Cognitive aspects of auditory plasticity across the lifespan
Abstract
This paper considers evidence of plasticity resulting from congenital and acquired hearing impairment as well as technical and language interventions. Speech communication is hindered by hearing loss. Individuals with normal hearing in childhood may experience hearing loss as they grow older and use technical and cognitive resources to maintain speech communication. The short- and medium-term effects of hearing-aid interventions seem to be mediated by individual cognitive abilities and may be specific to listening conditions including speech content, type of background noise, and type of hearing-aid signal processing. Furthermore, some aspects of cognitive function may decline with age and there is evidence that age-related hearing impairment is associated with poorer long-term memory. It is not yet clear whether improving audition through hearing-aid intervention can prevent cognitive decline. Profound deafness from an early age implicates a set of critical choices relating to possible restoration of the auditory signal through the use of prostheses including cochlear implants and hearing aids as well as to mode of communication, sign or speech. These choices have an influence on the organization of the developing brain. In particular, while the cortex may display sensory reorganization in response the linguistic modality of choice, cognitive organization seems to prevail.
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