Abstract
Congenital deafness results in abnormal synaptic structure in endings of the auditory nerve. If these abnormalities persist after restoration of auditory nerve activity by a cochlea: implant, the processing of time-varying signals such as speech would likely be impaired. We stimulated congenitally deaf cats for 3 months with a six-channel cochlear implant The device used human speech-processing programs, and cats responded to environmental sounds. Auditory nerve fibers exhibited a recovery of normal synaptic structure in these cats. This rescue of synapses is attributed to a return of spike activity in the auditory nerve and may help explain cochlear implant benefits in childhood deafness.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1490-1492 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | Science |
Volume | 310 |
Issue number | 5753 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2 2005 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General