Anhedonia

No, Anhedonia is not a failed state bordering Patagonia.  Not a kind of flower that attracts ants.  This is not an affliction that a mix of sulfur and extra virgin olive oil will cure.   Anhedonia, more specifically musical anhedonia, is the absolute inability to find pleasure in music.

Some people simply do not like music.  They will not buy the next Miley Cyrus album—no matter how naked she gets.  The sounds leave them cold at best and annoy the hell out them at the worst.  That is musical anhedonia.  Research conducted at the University of Barcelona and published in Current Biology just this week identified this condition in people who are otherwise quite normal.    

Musical anhedonia appears to be very much a physical thing—a lack of response, if you will.  People who enjoy music (most people) display certain physiological responses as they listen to songs.  They will exhibit a slight increase in heart rate when hearing music they like.  Music lovers will sweat a little at the sound of a well-placed drum solo or an exciting guitar riff.    People with musical anhedonia have no such physiological response, whether hearing the National Anthem played by a full orchestra or Bruce Springsteen performing live at their neighbor’s yard party.

The idea of musical anhedonia is difficult for me to grasp.  I am somewhat addicted to listening to music.  I crank up the music before I brew my coffee in the morning.  I am listening to the Afghan Whigs as I write this!

I guess we are all hard-wired in different fashions.  Some of us hear the sound of a different drummer drumming and some of us are simply annoyed by the drums.

--Mitchell Hegman