Event-Related Potential Evidence of Enhanced Visual Processing in Auditory-Associated Cortex in Adults with Hearing Loss

Maojin Liang, Jiahao Liu, Yuexin Cai, Fei Zhao, Suijun Chen, Lin Chen, Yuebo Chen, Yiqing Zheng*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Objective: The present study investigated the characteristics of visual processing in the auditory-associated cortex in adults with hearing loss using event-related potentials. Methods: Ten subjects with bilateral postlingual hearing loss were recruited. Ten age- and sex-matched normal-hearing subjects were included as controls. Visual ("sound"and "non-sound"photos)-evoked potentials were performed. The P170 response in the occipital area as well as N1 and N2 responses in FC3 and FC4 were analyzed. Results: Adults with hearing loss had higher P170 amplitudes, significantly higher N2 amplitudes, and shorter N2 latency in response to "sound"and "non-sound"photo stimuli at both FC3 and FC4, with the exception of the N2 amplitude which responded to "sound"photo stimuli at FC3. Further topographic mapping analysis revealed that patients had a large difference in response to "sound"and "non-sound"photos in the right frontotemporal area, starting from approximately 200 to 400 ms. Localization of source showed the difference to be located in the middle frontal gyrus region (BA10) at around 266 ms. Conclusions: The significantly stronger responses to visual stimuli indicate enhanced visual processing in the auditory-associated cortex in adults with hearing loss, which may be attributed to cortical visual reorganization involving the right frontotemporal cortex.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)237-248
Number of pages12
JournalAudiology and Neurotology
Volume25
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Apr 2020

Keywords

  • Event-related potential
  • Hearing loss
  • Neural mechanism
  • Visual compensatory

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