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Brain's 'hearing center' may reorganize after implant of cochlear device
July 24, 2007Cochlear implants-electronic devices inserted surgically in the ear to allow deaf people to hear-may restore normal auditory pathways in the brain even after many years of deafness.
The results imply that the brain can reorganize sound processing centers or press into service latent ones based on sound stimulation. Jeanne Guiraud, PhD, and colleagues at the University of Lyon, Edouard Herriot University Hospital, and Advanced Bionics, a firm that makes cochlear implants, worked with deaf subjects from 16 to 74 years old and found that younger subjects and those with a shorter history of deafness showed changes that mirrored patterns in people with normal hearing more closely. The results were published in the July 18 Journal of Neuroscience.
"The results imply a restoration to some extent of the normal organization through the use of the cochlear implant," says Manuel Don, PhD, of the House Ear Institute in Los Angeles. "They also claim to find ties between the degree of restored organization and a hearing task. Such ties are of enormous importance in evaluating cochlear implant benefits." Don was not involved in this study.
Guiraud and her team studied 13 profoundly deaf adults who had received cochlear implants, on average, eight months before the study. Electrical stimulation to the ear allowed the team to locate where in the brain's auditory cortex various frequencies were processed and come up with a map for these tones. Their results demonstrated that in people who had cochlear implants for at least three months, normal frequency organization was somewhat restored.
"Our results strongly suggest that the recipient's auditory cortex presents a tonotopic organization that resembles the frequency maps of normal-hearing subjects," says Guiraud.
In the future, the team hopes to determine in detail the ways in which these maps may change as a result of cochlear implants by studying subjects immediately following implant surgery.
Society for Neuroscience
Guiraud and her team studied 13 profoundly deaf adults who had received cochlear implants, on average, eight months before the study. Electrical stimulation to the ear allowed the team to locate where in the brain's auditory cortex various frequencies were processed and come up with a map for these tones. Their results demonstrated that in people who had cochlear implants for at least three months, normal frequency organization was somewhat restored.
"Our results strongly suggest that the recipient's auditory cortex presents a tonotopic organization that resembles the frequency maps of normal-hearing subjects," says Guiraud.
In the future, the team hopes to determine in detail the ways in which these maps may change as a result of cochlear implants by studying subjects immediately following implant surgery.
Society for Neuroscience
Cochlear Implant Current Events and Cochlear Implant News RSSMRI machines may damage cochlear implants
Patients with cochlear implants may want to steer clear of certain magnetic imaging devices, such as 3T MRI machines, because the machines can demagnetize the patient's implant, according to new research published in the December 2008 issue of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.
New tool to assess speech development in infants, toddlers with hearing impairments
The number of hearing impaired infants and toddlers who are successfully aided by technological devices, such as hearing aids and cochlear implants, continues to grow, but there are still unknowns about these children's speaking abilities, according to a Purdue University expert.
Geriatric patients receive significant benefit from cochlear implantation
Despite previous inconclusive research, geriatric patients do experience significant quality of life improvement (QOL) after receiving cochlear implants for hearing loss, says new research presented at the 2008 American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO in Chicago, IL.
Biophysical method may help to recover hearing
Scientists based in Switzerland and South Africa have created a biophysical methodology that may help to overcome hearing deficits, and potentially remedy even substantial hearing loss. The authors propose a method of retuning functioning regions of the ear to recognize frequencies originally associated with damaged areas. Details are published August 29th in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology.
Bilateral cochlear implants: A case when 2 are definitely superior to 1
A study of cochlear implant patients seen by Indiana University School of Medicine physicians is the first research to show evidence that cochlear implants in both ears significantly improves quality of life in patients with profound hearing loss and that the cost of the second implant is offset by its benefits.
Cochlear implant recipients experience improvement in quality of life
Cochlear implant recipients experience a significant improvement in their quality of life, and have improved speech recognition, according to new research published in the March 2008 issue of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.
Researcher developing new method for hearing loss assessment
A Purdue University researcher is working on a new technique to diagnose hearing loss in a way that more accurately reflects real-world situations.
A wider range of sounds for the deaf
More than three decades ago, scientists pursued the then-radical idea of implanting tiny electronic hearing devices in the inner ear to help profoundly deaf people.
For First Time, Cochlear Implant Restores Hearing To Patient With Rare Genetic Disorder
Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have, for the first time, used a "bionic" ear to restore hearing in a patient with von Hippel-Lindau disease. They say this advance offers new hope for individuals with the rare disorder, which can produce non-malignant tumors in ears, as well as in the eyes, brain, and kidneys.
Some children are born with 'temporary deafness' and do not require cochlear implant
Clinical research conducted in the Department of Communication Disorders at the University of Haifa revealed that some children who are born deaf "recover" from their deafness and do not require surgical intervention.
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