title: Neuromodulatory Effects of Auditory Training and Hearing Aid Use on Audiovisual Speech Perception in Elderly Individuals.
abstract: Although audiovisual (AV) training has been shown to improve overall speech perception in hearing-impaired listeners, there has been a lack of direct brain imaging data to help elucidate the neural networks and neural plasticity associated with hearing aid (HA) use and auditory training targeting speechreading. For this purpose, the current clinical case study reports functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from two hearing-impaired patients who were first-time HA users. During the study period, both patients used HAs for 8 weeks; only one received a training program named ReadMyQuipsTM(RMQ) targeting speechreading during the second half of the study period for 4 weeks. Identical fMRI tests were administered at pre-fitting and at the end of the 8 weeks. Regions of interest (ROI) including auditory cortex and visual cortex for uni-sensory processing, and superior temporal sulcus (STS) for AV integration, were identified for each person through independent functional localizer task. The results showed experience-dependent changes involving ROIs of auditory cortex, STS and functional connectivity between uni-sensory ROIs and STS from pretest to posttest in both cases. These data provide initial evidence for the malleable experience-driven cortical functionality for AV speech perception in elderly hearing-impaired people and call for further studies with a much larger subject sample and systematic control to fill in the knowledge gap to understand brain plasticity associated with auditory rehabilitation in the aging population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences and Center for Neurobehavioral Development, University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Luodi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Arizona State University Tempe, AZ, USA.
authors.forename: Aparna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences and Center for Neurobehavioral Development, University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Office of the Associate Dean for Research, College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Philip C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Burton
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, University of South Alabama Mobile, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Dania
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rishiq
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, University of South Alabama Mobile, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Harvey
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Abrams
keywords: audiovisual integration; auditory training; brain plasticity; fMRI; functional connectivity; hearing aid; speech perception