Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Hearing

Hearing

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.

Auditory Pathway

Auditory 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...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Benefits of Cochlear Implantation for Single-Sided Deafness: Data From the House Clinic-University of Southern California-University of California, Los Angeles Clinical Trial.

Ear and hearing·2018

Same author

Initial Results of a Safety and Feasibility Study of Auditory Brainstem Implantation in Congenitally Deaf Children.

Otology & neurotology : official publication of the American Otological Society, American Neurotology Society [and] European Academy of Otology and Neurotology·2016

Same author

Consensus statement: Long-term results of ABI in children with complex inner ear malformations and decision making between CI and ABI.

Cochlear implants international·2016

Same author

Is Birdsong More Like Speech or Music?

Trends in cognitive sciences·2016

Same author

Regulatory and funding strategies to develop a safety study of an auditory brainstem implant in young children who are deaf.

Therapeutic innovation & regulatory science·2015

Same author

Two Laskers and Counting: Learning From the Past Enables Future Innovations With Central Neural Prostheses.

Brain stimulation·2014

Same journal

Movement disorders and Parkinson's disease: collaborative and interdisciplinary research to advance understanding of neural circuit dysfunction, pathophysiology, and care: new horizons in technology, neuroimaging, neurophysiology, and genetics toward personalized medicine.

Current opinion in neurology·2026

Same journal

Editorial introduction.

Current opinion in neurology·2026

Same journal

Multimodal mapping of balance dysfunction in Parkinson's disease: a consensus roadmap for research and intervention.

Current opinion in neurology·2026

Same journal

Tourette syndrome: brain neurophysiology, circuit dysfunction, and neuromodulation across invasive and noninvasive approaches.

Current opinion in neurology·2026

Same journal

Dystonia: from phenotypes to genetics and therapeutic advances.

Current opinion in neurology·2026

Same journal

What can we learn from eye movements in movement disorders and Parkinson's disease?

Current opinion in neurology·2026

See all related articles

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 26, 2026

Systematic Hearing Performance Evaluation Process for Adolescents with Cochlear Implantation at Early Ages

Systematic Hearing Performance Evaluation Process for Adolescents with Cochlear Implantation at Early Ages

Published on: March 24, 2023

Advances in auditory prostheses.

Robert V Shannon¹

¹House Research Institute, Los Angeles, California 90057, USA. Shannon@hei.org

Current Opinion in Neurology

|December 14, 2011

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Cochlear implants and auditory brainstem implants restore hearing by stimulating auditory neurons. These auditory prostheses enable high speech understanding in deaf individuals and offer insights into brain sensory processing.

More Related Videos

Enhanced Cochlear Coverage and Hearing Preservation in High-Frequency Hearing Loss via Electric Acoustic Stimulation with Longer Electrode

Enhanced Cochlear Coverage and Hearing Preservation in High-Frequency Hearing Loss via Electric Acoustic Stimulation with Longer Electrode

Published on: October 11, 2024

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 26, 2026

Systematic Hearing Performance Evaluation Process for Adolescents with Cochlear Implantation at Early Ages

Systematic Hearing Performance Evaluation Process for Adolescents with Cochlear Implantation at Early Ages

Published on: March 24, 2023

Enhanced Cochlear Coverage and Hearing Preservation in High-Frequency Hearing Loss via Electric Acoustic Stimulation with Longer Electrode

Enhanced Cochlear Coverage and Hearing Preservation in High-Frequency Hearing Loss via Electric Acoustic Stimulation with Longer Electrode

Published on: October 11, 2024

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Biomedical Engineering
Otolaryngology

Background:

Auditory prostheses, including cochlear implants, utilize electrical stimulation to activate auditory neurons, aiming to restore hearing in individuals with deafness.
Over 200,000 individuals have benefited from cochlear implants, achieving functional speech understanding.
Early devices provided supplementary auditory information aiding lip-reading, while current technology offers significant speech comprehension.

Purpose of the Study:

To review the mechanisms behind successful hearing restoration with auditory prostheses.
To explore advancements in auditory prosthesis design and signal processing.
To discuss the potential for restoring hearing in broader patient populations.

Main Methods:

Review of existing literature on auditory prostheses, including cochlear implants and auditory brainstem implants.
Analysis of technological advancements in electrode design and signal processing algorithms.
Examination of clinical outcomes and research directions.

Main Results:

Modern cochlear implants provide excellent speech understanding for children and adults with post-lingual deafness.
Research is actively pursuing enhanced signal processing and novel electrode configurations.
Electrical stimulation of the auditory brainstem has also demonstrated success in restoring hearing.

Conclusions:

Auditory prostheses, targeting the auditory nerve and brainstem, can effectively restore neural activation patterns for significant speech understanding.
These devices are clinically effective and serve as valuable tools for investigating neural processing in the brain.