title: Auditory neuropathies:  understanding their pathogenesis to illuminate intervention strategies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  For lack of therapy targeting sensorineural hearing loss, hearing-impaired patients must be fitted with sound-amplifying hearing aids or cochlear implants, successfully in a majority of cases. Yet failures are often found among auditory neuropathies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Auditory neuropathies are a class of conditions characterized by disrupted spike synchrony in auditory pathways despite reasonably preserved hearing sensitivity: amplification by hearing aids is inadequate and electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve may not improve discharge synchrony.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Among the already partially understood pathogenetic frameworks, this article reviews physiological reasons why some rehabilitation procedures can restore neural synchrony, whereas others either fail or might even increase the damage, and what tests could help predict the outcome of intervention.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Sensory Biophysics, University of Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
authors.forename: Fabrice
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Giraudet
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Avan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019929:Cochlear Implantation; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006313:Hearing Loss, Central / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation* / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous / Q000502:physiology