Healthy-side dominance of cortical neuromagnetic responses in sudden hearing loss

Previous brain imaging and mapping studies have reported findings indicating functional reorganization in the central auditory pathways of patients with profound unilateral hearing loss. This study reports for the first time to our knowledge, using a whole-head neuromagnetometer with monaural stimulation of both intact and affected ears, a pattern of healthy-side dominance for cortical neuromagnetic responses in adult patients in the early stage of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss, and a pattern of contralateral dominance is verified in controls.