Abstract
Although a cochlear implant (CI) can partially restore auditory function, CI recipients show alterations not only in auditory but also in visual cortical processing. Yet, it is not well understood how these visual changes relate to the CI outcome and to what extent these changes are induced by auditory deprivation and the limited CI input, respectively. Here, we present a prospective longitudinal electroencephalography study which examined the deprivation- and CI-induced alterations on cortical face processing by comparing visual evoked potentials (VEP) in CI users before and 6 months after implantation. A group of normal-hearing (NH) listeners served as a control. The participants performed a word-identification task and a face-categorization task to study the cortical processing of static and articulating faces in attended and unattended conditions. The CI candidates and CI users showed a reduced visual-cortex activation, a stronger functional connectivity between the visual and auditory cortex, and a reduced attention effect in the (extended) alpha frequency range (8–18 Hz) when compared to NH listeners. There was a positive correlation between the P1 VEP amplitude recorded before implantation and the speech recognition ability after implantation. Our results suggest that the CI users' alterations in cortical face processing are mainly induced by auditory deprivation and not by CI experience. Importantly, these deprivation-induced changes seem to be related to the CI outcome. Our results suggest that the visual P1 amplitude as recorded before implantation provides an objective index of cortical visual reorganization that may help predict the CI outcome.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e70042 |
| Journal | Journal of Neuroscience Research |
| Volume | 103 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| ISSN | 0360-4012 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 05.2025 |
Funding
Edited by: Lawrence S. Sherman and Royce Mohan. Reviewed by Alice Burghard and Joel I Berger Funding: This research was funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) with the grant numbers: SA 3615/1-1 (project number: 415896102), SA 3615/2-1 (project number: 416867313), SA 3615/3-1 (project number: 471410050) and ME 2751/4-1 (project number: 416867313). We thank the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) [SA 3615/1-1 (project number: 415896102), SA 3615/2-1 (project number: 416867313), SA 3615/3-1 (project number: 471410050) and ME 2751/4-1 (project number: 416867313)] for providing funding for this research. Additionally, we thank Pauline Burkhardt and Lina Wiesel for their help in data collection and Sebastian Puschmann for his support with the data analysis. Finally, we thank all participants for their time and effort. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. This research was funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) with the grant numbers: SA 3615/1‐1 (project number: 415896102), SA 3615/2‐1 (project number: 416867313), SA 3615/3‐1 (project number: 471410050) and ME 2751/4‐1 (project number: 416867313). Funding: We thank the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) [SA 3615/1‐1 (project number: 415896102), SA 3615/2‐1 (project number: 416867313), SA 3615/3‐1 (project number: 471410050) and ME 2751/4‐1 (project number: 416867313)] for providing funding for this research. Additionally, we thank Pauline Burkhardt and Lina Wiesel for their help in data collection and Sebastian Puschmann for his support with the data analysis. Finally, we thank all participants for their time and effort. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft | 415896102, SA 3615/1, 416867313, 471410050 |
