An fMRI-study on single-sided deafness: Spectral-temporal properties and side of stimulation modulates hemispheric dominance

• Published in: NeuroImage clinical 2019-01, Vol.24, p.101969-101969, Article 101969
• Main Authors: Heggdal, Peder O. Laugen, Aarstad, Hans Jørgen, Brännström, Jonas, Vassbotn, Flemming S., Specht, Karsten
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acoustic Stimulation; Adult; Brain - physiopathology; Clinical Medicine; Female; fMRI; Functional Laterality - physiology; Hearing loss; Hearing Loss, Unilateral - physiopathology; Humans; Klinisk medicin; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Medical and Health Sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Middle Aged; Oto-rhino-laryngologi; Otorhinolaryngology; Plasticity; Psychology: 260; Psykologi: 260; Regular; Samfunnsvitenskap: 200; Single-sided deafness; Social science: 200; VDP; Vestibular schwannoma
• ISSN: 2213-1582; 2213-1582
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2019.101969

Our main aim was to investigate the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response to monaural and binaural speech- and non-speech stimuli as measured with fMRI in subjects with single-sided deafness and in normal hearing controls. We hypothesised that the response to monaural stimulation in both normal hearing subjects and persons with single-sided deafness would vary with the complexity and nature of the stimuli and the side of stimulation. Patients with left- and right single-sided deafness and controls with normal hearing receiving either binaural or monaural stimuli were tested using speech and non-speech auditory stimuli in an event-related fMRI experiment. Twenty-two patients with single-sided deafness after treatment for vestibular schwannoma and 50 normal hearing controls. Normal hearing persons receiving right side monaural stimuli activate bilateral temporal regions. Activation following left side monaural stimulation is more right lateralized. Persons with single-sided deafness respond similarly to controls to monaural stimulation. Persons with right side single-sided deafness show activation of frontal cortical regions not seen in persons with left side single-sided deafness following speech stimuli. This is possibly related to increased effort and more frequently reported problems with communication. Right side single-sided deafness is related to increased activation of areas usually related to processing of degraded input, including the thalamus. Hemispheric dominance following monaural auditory stimulation is modulated by the spectral-temporal properties of the stimuli and by which ear is stimulated. Differences between patients with right- and left side deafness suggests that right side deafness is related to increased activation of areas involved in processing of degraded input. •Hemispheric dominance following monaural stimulation is modulated by stimuli properties and by which ear is stimulated•Results suggests that right side deafness is related to increased activation of eares involved in processing degraded input•Self-assessed communication ability and the BOLD-response to phonetic stimuli correlate in several brain regions.