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Updated: Jun 24, 2026
06:34
Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations
Published on: July 1, 2015
[Functional and activity-dependent plasticity mechanisms in the adult and developing auditory brain]
M A Izquierdo1, D L Oliver, M S Malmierca
1Departamento de Biología Celular y Patología, Facultad de Medicina, Unidad de Neurofisiología de la Audición, Instituto de Neurociencias de Castilla y León, Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, España.
Revista De Neurologia
|April 3, 2009
Summary
Neuronal plasticity and stability are key to auditory system function and hearing loss treatment. Combining these concepts offers a promising strategy for developing new therapies for hearing loss.
Area of Science:
- Neurobiology
- Auditory System Research
Context:
- Topographic representations, like tonotopic maps, are fundamental in sensory systems.
- Auditory system research has extensively studied tonotopic map changes due to peripheral lesions or augmented acoustic environments.
- While plasticity reorganizes the auditory cortex, subcortical nuclei show limited plasticity after acoustic trauma.
Purpose:
- To explore the mechanisms of neuronal reorganization in the auditory system.
- To investigate the roles of neuronal plasticity and the emerging concept of neuronal stability in hearing.
- To identify potential therapeutic strategies for hearing loss.
Summary:
- Neuronal plasticity is crucial for auditory system development, function, and rehabilitation after auditory prosthesis implantation.
- Plasticity can also lead to abnormal sensations such as tinnitus.
- The concept of neuronal stability offers new insights into managing hearing loss.
Impact:
- Understanding neuronal plasticity and stability can guide the development of improved treatments for hearing loss.
- A combined approach of neuronal plasticity and stability presents a promising avenue for future hearing loss therapies.
Related Concept Videos
01:01Neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity reflects the brain's remarkable capacity to adapt and evolve, responding dynamically to learning, experiences, or injury by reorganizing its neural circuitry. This reorganization involves creating new neural connections and refining old ones through a series of biological processes that contribute to the brain's lifelong development and adaptability.
01:15Auditory Pathway
Auditory pathways constitute the complex neural circuits responsible for transmitting and interpreting auditory information from the peripheral auditory system to the brain. Sound waves are initially captured by the outer ear, funneled through the ear canal, and reach the tympanic membrane (eardrum). These vibrations are transmitted via the middle ear's ossicles to the inner ear's cochlea.
When viewed cross-sectionally, the cochlea reveals the scala vestibuli and scala tympani flanking the...
When viewed cross-sectionally, the cochlea reveals the scala vestibuli and scala tympani flanking the...
01:13The Cochlea
The cochlea is a coiled structure in the inner ear that contains hair cells—the sensory receptors of the auditory system. Sound waves are transmitted to the cochlea by small bones attached to the eardrum called the ossicles, which vibrate the oval window that leads to the inner ear. This causes fluid in the chambers of the cochlea to move, vibrating the basilar membrane.
01:31Hearing
When we hear a sound, our nervous system is detecting sound waves—pressure waves of mechanical energy traveling through a medium. The frequency of the wave is perceived as pitch, while the amplitude is perceived as loudness.
01:21Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location
The human brain perceives pitch through two primary mechanisms reflected in place theory and frequency theory. Each mechanism describes how sound waves are interpreted as specific pitches by the brain, offering insights into the intricate processes of auditory perception.
Place theory, or place coding, suggests that different pitches are heard because various sound waves activate specific locations along the cochlea's basilar membrane. The brain determines the pitch of a sound by identifying...
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00:58Plasticity
Plasticity is the property where an object loses its elasticity and undergoes irreversible deformation, even after the deformation forces are eliminated. If a material deforms irreversibly without increasing stress or load, then this is called ideal plasticity. For example, when a force is applied to an aluminum rod, it changes its shape, but it does not return to its original shape once the force is removed. Plastic deformation or ductility is thus a permanent deformation or change in the...