Cross-modal plasticity underpins language recovery after cochlear implantation
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Updated: Oct 5, 2026

Systematic Hearing Performance Evaluation Process for Adolescents with Cochlear Implantation at Early Ages
Published on: March 24, 2023
A L Giraud1, C J Price, J M Graham
1Department of Physiology and, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, 60590 am Main, Frankfurt, Germany. giraud@em.uni-frankfurt.de
Abstract:
Postlingually deaf subjects learn the meaning of sounds after cochlear implantation by forming new associations between sounds and their sources. Implants generate coarse frequency responses, preventing place-coding fine enough to discriminate sounds with similar temporal characteristics, e.g., buck/duck. This limitation imposes a dependency on visual cues, e.g., lipreading. We hypothesized that cross-modal facilitation results from engagement of the visual cortex by purely auditory tasks. In four functional neuroimaging experiments, we show recruitment of early visual cortex (V1/V2) when cochlear implant users listen to sounds with eyes closed. Activity in visual cortex evolved in a stimulus-specific manner as a function of time from implantation reflecting experience-dependent adaptations in the postimplant phase.
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