REVIEWS   

Otorinolaringologia 2002 September;52(3):93-100

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Beyond the ear: central auditory plasticity

Tremblay K. L. ¹, Kraus N. ²

¹ Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences Brain and Behavior Laboratory University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA 2 Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

There is a cur­rent ­surge of ­interest in under­standing cen­tral audi­tory plas­ticity and how ­these prin­ci­ples ­relate to ­aural reha­bil­i­ta­tion and to ­learning in gen­eral. ­Knowing ­more ­about the sci­ence under­lying reha­bil­i­ta­tion ­might ­advance the way sci­en­tists and cli­ni­cians ­approach reha­bil­i­ta­tion. For ­this ­reason we ­review ­basic prin­ci­ples of cen­tral audi­tory plas­ticity and how ­these prin­ci­ples are ­being ­applied to ­study pop­u­la­tions ­with audi­tory-­based com­mu­ni­ca­tion dis­or­ders. Spe­cif­i­cally, we dis­cuss how prin­ci­ples of plas­ticity ­relate to ­aural reha­bil­i­ta­tion. There­fore, the ­effects of audi­tory dep­ri­va­tion and audi­tory stim­u­la­tion on cen­tral audi­tory mech­a­nisms are ­reviewed.