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PMID: 17910997 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Review

Cochlear implants and brain plasticity.

Hearing research ·Vol. 238 ·No. 1-2 ·2008-04-00 ·Pages 110-7

Fallon JB, Irvine DR, Shepherd RK

Abstract

Cochlear implants have been implanted in over 110,000 deaf adults and children worldwide and provide these patients with important auditory cues necessary for auditory awareness and speech perception via electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve (AN). In 1942, Woolsey and Walzl presented the first report of cortical responses to localised electrical stimulation of different sectors of the AN in normal hearing cats, and established the cochleotopic organization of the projections to primary auditory cortex. Subsequently, individual cortical neurons in normal hearing animals have been shown to have well characterized input-output functions for electrical stimulation and decreasing response latencies with increasing stimulus strength. However, the central auditory system is not immutable, and has a remarkable capacity for plastic change, even into adulthood, as a result of changes in afferent input. This capacity for change is likely to contribute to the ongoing clinical improvements observed in speech perception for cochlear implant users. This review examines the evidence for changes of the response properties of neurons in, and consequently the functional organization of, the central auditory system produced by chronic, behaviourally relevant, electrical stimulation of the AN in profoundly deaf humans and animals.

MeSH Terms
Animals Auditory Cortex/physiopathology Auditory Pathways/physiopathology Brain Mapping Cochlear Implantation Cochlear Implants Cochlear Nerve/physiopathology Electric Stimulation Hearing Loss/physiopathology,therapy Humans Models, Animal Neuronal Plasticity Pitch Perception Psychoacoustics Speech Perception
Authors & Affiliations
3 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Fallon James B
Bionic Ear Institute, 384-388 Albert Street, East Melbourne, VIC 3002, Australia. [email protected]
Irvine Dexter R F
Shepherd Robert K
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Article Info
Journal
Hearing research
Abbr.
Hear Res
ISSN
0378-5955
DOI
10.1016/j.heares.2007.08.004
Email
[email protected]
Published
2008-04-00
Epub
2007-00-01
Pages
110-7
Language
English
Region
Netherlands
NLM ID
7900445
PMCID
PMC2361156
Subset
IM
Grants
NIDCD NIH HHS · N01 DC031005 · United States
NIDCD NIH HHS · N01-DC-31005 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2007.08.004 PMC Full Text View journal details
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