Brief Stimulus Exposure Fully Remediates Temporal Processing Deficits Induced by Early Hearing Loss.

ABSTRACT: In childhood, partial hearing loss can produce prolonged deficits in speech perception and temporal processing. However, early therapeutic interventions targeting temporal processing may improve later speech-related outcomes. Gap detection is a measure of auditory temporal resolution that relies on the auditory cortex (ACx), and early auditory deprivation alters intrinsic and synaptic properties in the ACx. Thus, early deprivation should induce deficits in gap detection, which should be reflected in ACx gap sensitivity. We tested whether earplugging-induced, early transient auditory deprivation in male and female Mongolian gerbils caused correlated deficits in behavioral and cortical gap detection, and whether these could be rescued by a novel therapeutic approach: brief exposure to gaps i

SUBMITTER: Green DB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5551066 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature