The study of auditory deprivation from birth.
This paper reviews the research published on auditory deprivation from birth. The extent of the damage caused to animals by this is discussed in relation to humans, deprived of hearing at birth, but later provided with some auditory input through a fitted hearing aid. Lack of research findings prevents a conclusive statement but there appear to be strong grounds for expecting some resulting permanent deficiency at a cortical level in the hearing of complex sounds such as speech.
D000818:Animals; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D003638:Deafness / Q000151:congenital* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D012683:Sensory Deprivation