Behavioral training promotes multiple adaptive processes following acute hearing loss

Abstract
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Abstract

The brain possesses a remarkable capacity to compensate for changes in inputs resulting from a range of sensory impairments. Developmental studies of sound localization have shown that adaptation to asymmetric hearing loss can be achieved either by reinterpreting altered spatial cues or by relying more on those cues that remain intact. Adaptation to monaural deprivation in adulthood is also possible, but appears to lack such flexibility. Here we show, however, that appropriate behavioral training enables monaurally-deprived adult humans to exploit both of these adaptive processes. Moreover, cortical recordings in ferrets reared with asymmetric hearing loss suggest that these forms of plasticity have distinct neural substrates. An ability to adapt to asymmetric hearing loss using multiple adaptive processes is therefore shared by different species and may persist throughout the lifespan. This highlights the fundamental flexibility of neural systems, and may also point toward novel therapeutic strategies for treating sensory disorders.

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Peter Keating

Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

For correspondence
peter.keating@dpag.ox.ac.uk

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.
Onayomi Rosenior-Patten

Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.
Johannes C Dahmen

Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.
Olivia Bell

Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.
Andrew J King

Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

Competing interests
Andrew J King, Reviewing editor, eLife.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: All procedures conformed to ethical standards approved by the Central University Research Ethics Committee (CUREC) at the University of Oxford. All work involving animals was performed under licenses granted by the UK Home Office under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act of 1986.

Human subjects: All procedures conformed to ethical standards approved by the Central University Research Ethics Committee (CUREC) at the University of Oxford. All human subjects provided informed written consent.

Copyright

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.