The bionic ear and brain plasticity
Dr James Fallon
Principal
Investigator
Dexter Irvine
Principal
Investigator
Dr Andrew Wise
Research Fellow
Dr Jin Xu
Research Fellow
Prof Robert Shepherd
Principal
Investigator
PhD Candidates
David Perry
Tom Landry
Research Assistants
Alison Evans
Background
Brain plasticity is the ability of the brain to re-organize itself by forming new connections between brain cells (neurons) via new experiences.
Children as young as 4 months are now being implanted with a bionic ear. It has been observed that many children implanted with a bionic ear at a young age are able to comprehend speech and communicate almost as well as hearing children.
Our Research
We are investigating how the use of the bionic ear (and the new "experience" of sound) contributes to brain plasticity - by promoting nerve cell survival and connectivity in the brain.
Our goals are to study, using functional, anatomical and behavioural measures:
the effects of the bionic ear on the developing auditory system for subjects implanted at a young age.
the response of the auditory system in adults who have become deaf and have been implanted with a bionic ear.
the effects of long-term bionic ear use on brain plasticity
To achieve these goals we use a number of sub disciplines of neurobiology including electrophysiological, behavioural and neuroanatomical / molecular biological techniques.
These diagrams show how the hearing part of the brain (auditory cortex) is organised from low frequencies (red) to
high frequencies (blue) for people with normal hearing (LEFT).
By contrast the hearing part of the brain in deaf people can become disorganised if it is not stimulated early enough in life,
due to lack of input (sound) (MIDDLE).
Cochlear implant users from an early age have an auditory brain more like a hearing person (RIGHT).
Project home page
Visit the project's home page to see new publications and updates from the team and quarterly reports for the US National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders) contract.
Funding
US National Institutes of Health (HHS-N-263-2007-00053-C)
Dr James Fallon - Lions International Hearing Research Fellowship