Compensation in neuro-system related to age-related hearing loss.

Abstract

Background: Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is a major cause of chronic disability among the elderly. Individuals with ARHL not only have trouble hearing sounds, but also with speech perception. As the perception of auditory information is reliant on integration between widespread brain networks to interpret auditory stimuli, both auditory and extra-auditory systems which mainly include visual, motor and attention systems, play an important role in compensating for ARHL.

Objectives: To better understand the compensatory mechanism of ARHL and inspire better interventions that may alleviate ARHL.

Methods: We mainly focus on the existing information on ARHL-related central compensation. The compensatory effects of hearing aids (HAs) and cochlear implants (CIs) on ARHL were also discussed.

Results: Studies have shown that ARHL can induce cochlear hair cell damage or loss and cochlear synaptopathy, which could induce central compensation including compensation of auditory and extra-auditory neural networks. The use of HAs and CIs can improve bottom-up processing by enabling 'better' input to the auditory pathways and then to the cortex by enhancing the diminished auditory signal.

Conclusions: The central compensation of ARHL and its possible correlation with HAs and CIs are current hotspots in the field and should be given focus in future research.