Anatomical and Functional MRI Changes after One Year of Auditory Rehabilitation with Hearing Aids.

Anatomical and Functional MRI Changes after One Year of Auditory Rehabilitation with Hearing Aids. Neural Plast. 2018;2018:9303674 Authors: Pereira-Jorge MR, Andrade KC, Palhano-Fontes FX, Diniz PRB, Sturzbecher M, Santos AC, Araujo DB Abstract Hearing aids (HAs) are an effective strategy for auditory rehabilitation in patients with peripheral hearing deficits. Yet, the neurophysiological mechanisms behind HA use are still unclear. Thus far, most studies have focused on changes in the auditory system, although it is expected that hearing deficits affect a number of cognitive systems, notably speech. In the present study, we used audiometric evaluations in 14 patients with bilateral hearing loss before and after one year of continuous HA use and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and cortical thickness analysis in 12 and 10 of them compared with a normal hearing control group. Prior to HA fitting, fMRI activity was found reduced in the auditory and language systems and increased in visual and frontal areas, expanding to multimodal integration cortices, such as the superior temporal gyrus, intraparietal sulcus, and insula. One year after rehabilitation with HA, significant audiometric improvement was observed, especially in free-field Speech Reception Threshold (SRT) test and functional gain, a measure of HA efficiency. HA use increased fMRI activity in the auditory and language cortices and multimodal integration areas. Indi...
Source: Neural Plasticity - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Neural Plast Source Type: research