Anisomorphic Cortical Reorganization in Asymmetric Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Acoustic trauma or inner ear disease may predominantly injure one ear, causing asymmetric sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). While characteristic frequency (CF) map plasticity of primary auditory cortex (AI) contralateral to the injured ear has been detailed, there is no study that also evaluates ipsilateral AI to compare cortical reorganization across both hemispheres. We assess whether normal isomorphic mirror image relationship between the two hemispheres is maintained or disrupted in mild-to-moderate asymmetric SNHL of adult squirrel monkeys. At week 24 following induction of acoustic injury to the right ear, functional organization of the two hemispheres differs in direction and magnitude of interaural CF difference, percentage of recording sites with spectrally non-overlapping binaural activation, and the concurrence of peripheral and central activation thresholds. The emergence of this anisomorphic cortical reorganization of the two hemispheres is replicated by simulation based on spike-timing-dependent plasticity, where: 1) AI input from the contralateral ear is dominant, 2) reestablishment of relatively shorter contralateral ear input timing drives reorganization, and 3) only AI contralateral to the injured ear undergoes major realignment of interaural frequency maps that evolve over months. Asymmetric SNHL disrupts isomorphic organization between the two hemispheres and results in relative local hemispheric autonomy, potentially impairing performance of tasks that require binaural input alignment or interhemispheric processing.

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