Behavioral training promotes multiple adaptive processes following acute hearing loss

The brain possesses a remarkable capacity to compensate for changes in inputs resulting from a range of sensory impairments. Developmental studies of sound localization have shown that adaptation to asymmetric hearing loss can be achieved either by reinterpreting altered spatial cues or by relying m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published ineLife Vol. 5; p. e12264
Main Authors Keating, Peter, Rosenior-Patten, Onayomi, Dahmen, Johannes C, Bell, Olivia, King, Andrew J
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England eLife Science Publications, Ltd 23.03.2016
eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Subjects
Acoustic Stimulation
Adaptation
Adaptation, Physiological
Adult
adult plasticity
Animals
Auditory Cortex - physiology
Behavior
Behavioral plasticity
Confidence intervals
Cortex
Cues
Ears & hearing
Female
Ferrets
Health aspects
Hearing Loss
Humans
Hypotheses
Life span
Localization
Male
Neural circuitry
Neuronal Plasticity
Neuroscience
Physiological aspects
Plasticity (neural)
Short Report
Sound
Sound Localization
Spectrum allocation
Young Adult
hearing loss
sound localization
human
neuroscience
adult plasticity
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Summary:The brain possesses a remarkable capacity to compensate for changes in inputs resulting from a range of sensory impairments. Developmental studies of sound localization have shown that adaptation to asymmetric hearing loss can be achieved either by reinterpreting altered spatial cues or by relying more on those cues that remain intact. Adaptation to monaural deprivation in adulthood is also possible, but appears to lack such flexibility. Here we show, however, that appropriate behavioral training enables monaurally-deprived adult humans to exploit both of these adaptive processes. Moreover, cortical recordings in ferrets reared with asymmetric hearing loss suggest that these forms of plasticity have distinct neural substrates. An ability to adapt to asymmetric hearing loss using multiple adaptive processes is therefore shared by different species and may persist throughout the lifespan. This highlights the fundamental flexibility of neural systems, and may also point toward novel therapeutic strategies for treating sensory disorders.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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Ear Institute, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
ISSN:2050-084X
2050-084X
DOI:10.7554/eLife.12264