Brief hearing loss disrupts binaural integration during two early critical periods of auditory cortex development.
Early binaural experience can recalibrate central auditory circuits that support spatial hearing. However, it is not known how binaural integration matures shortly after hearing onset or whether various developmental stages are differentially impacted by disruptions of normal binaural experience. Here we induce a brief, reversible unilateral conductive hearing loss (CHL) at several experimentally determined milestones in mouse primary auditory cortex (A1) development and characterize its effects ~1 week after normal hearing is restored. We find that CHL shapes A1 binaural selectivity during two early critical periods. CHL before P16 disrupts the normal coregistration of interaural frequency tuning, whereas CHL on P16, but not before or after, disrupts interaural level difference sensitivity contained in long-latency spikes. These data highlight an evolving plasticity in the developing auditory cortex that may relate to the aetiology of amblyaudia, a binaural hearing impairment associated with bouts of otitis media during human infancy.
1] Department of Otology and Laryngology, Harvard Medical School, Boston Massachussetts 02114, USA [2] Eaton-Peabody Laboratories, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston Massachussetts 02114, USA [3] Center for Computational Neuroscience and Neural Technology, Boston University, Boston Massachussetts 02215, USA.
Daniel B
DB
Polley
John H
JH
Thompson
Wei
W
Guo
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000254:growth & development / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology*; D004432:Ear, Middle / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D006314:Hearing Loss, Conductive / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008808:Mice, Inbred CBA; D020442:Poloxamer / Q000494:pharmacology
D020442:Poloxamer