What is The Connection Between Neuroplasticity and Hearing Loss Treatment?

Your brain is incredibly adaptative to change. This can be seen both when you experience hearing loss as well as when you receive treatment for it.

What is Neuroplasticity?

The ability of the brain to adapt by forming new neural connections is called neuroplasticity. It can happen as a response to:

Receiving new information
Sensory stimulation
Damage or disease to certain parts of the brain
Other changes in environment

Hearing Loss Changes Your Brain

Hearing loss can change your brain by depriving it of stimulation. This happens for two reasons:

Because you can no longer hear certain sounds, the parts of the brain that process that sound don’t receive enough stimulation.
Hearing loss can make social situations frustrating. As interacting with others becomes more difficult, you may isolate and engage less with others.

This lack of stimulation may cause structural and functional brain changes. The parts that process sound may shrink or be recruited by other areas of the brain responsible for vision and touch.

Hearing Aids May Reverse Brain Changes

While your brain can change in response to hearing loss, there is also evidence that these changes can be reversed with hearing aids.

A study conducted in 2020 tested the cognitive function of 28 adults with mild to moderate age-related hearing loss against 13 adults with normal hearing.

Participants were evaluated once while their hearing loss was untreated, then given hearing aids to wear for six months and were evaluated again.

The baseline exam indicated that participants with age-related hearing loss showed evidence of recruitment during a visual processing task. They also had poorer speech perception and worse cognitive function than those with normal hearing.

However, after six months of using hearing aids, there was a reversal of recruitment, as well as noticeably improved speech perception and cognitive performance.

Treat Hearing Loss to Prevent Cognitive Decline

Hearing loss comes on gradually and is almost always progressive. By diagnosing it and treating it early, you are not only protecting your hearing health but your cognitive function as well.

Hearing aids help you pick up on sounds and speech you were previously missing, which helps stimulate your brain. They also make it easier to converse with others, making you less likely to isolate and more inclined to go out to dinner with friends at Sails Restaurant.

If you are concerned about your hearing, take control of your health and call Center For Hearing today to schedule an appointment.

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The Future of Hearing Devices: Deep Neural Networks & Artificial Intelligence

February 14, 2025

Hearing technology has come a long way over the years; however, one aspect of hearing loss that many hearing aids have difficulty addressing is trouble understanding speech in noise. Fortunately, some of today’s state-of-the-art devices can solve this problem utilizing deep neural networks (DNN) and artificial intelligence (AI). Sensorineural hearing loss causes difficulty understanding speech in background noise. This type of hearing loss is caused by damage to the hair cells of the inner ear that convert soundwaves into electrical energy, which are then interpreted by the brain. This causes the quality and quantity of the signal sent from the ears to the brain to diminish over time, resulting in the brain expending more energy and effort to make sense of it. DNNs may help improve the transmission of the neural code, making hearing easier on the brain. [1] It’s important to know what DNNs are to understand how they can help. DNNs are a subset of AI. They rapidly analyze large data sets so that they can teach hearing aids and other technological devices how to respond to data like a human would, all while verifying accuracy and making corrections. DNNs are beneficial in hearing technology because they can help with speech enhancement. DNNs can be applied as “time-frequency masks,” meaning select sounds—like speech—are allowed while other sounds are suppressed. DNNs can also identify and separate multiple voices, selecting a primary voice to emphasize and secondary voices to suppress. This feature can help hearing device wearers in a variety of settings. For example, at a restaurant or party, the hearing device can emphasize a conversation partner, allow other nearby voices at a reduced volume and suppress background noises such as dishes clinking. Schedule an appointment to talk to Center for Hearing about our vast state-of-the-art hearing solutions today— (239) 434-0086. [1] Published by Douglas L. Beck. (2021, January 15). Deep neural networks in hearing devices. Retrieved April 2, 2021 from https://www.hearingreview.com/hearing-products/hearing-aids/deep-neural-networks

Startup Aims to Develop the First Gene Therapy for Hearing Loss

February 14, 2025

A Boston biotech startup is attempting to develop the first gene therapy treatment for hearing loss. If successful, it promises to offer new hope to the estimated 300,000 Americans who suffer from gene-based hearing loss—a number that includes more than 4,000 newborns. The timing may not be ideal, but biotech companies have been largely immune from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing recession. Developing new drugs takes years, so these companies are better able to weather storms. And the efforts of biotechnology companies that are focusing on tools to prevent and treat potentially fatal health threats has resulted in soaring stock values for many of these companies, even in the face of the current crisis. Akouos, the Boston startup, was founded in 2016. Its goal is to develop the first gene therapy to treat hearing loss and is targeting a specific form of deafness that results from mutations in a single gene. They are experimenting with adeno-associated viruses, using them as vectors to deliver DNA that encodes a functioning gene in certain target cells. Around 7,000 people are afflicted with this type of genetic hearing loss. Adeno-associated viruses are considered viable candidates because they don’t usually cause disease and can be customized to treat a variety of genetic conditions. The company has partnered with two influential organizations: Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Lonza, a Swiss manufacturing company that holds contracts with various pharmaceutical makers. Manny Simons, Akouos’ co-founder and chief executive, holds a degree in neuroscience from Harvard College, a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. His desire to help those with hearing loss stems from his passion for playing the piano. “It’s easy to take hearing for granted,” said in a Boston Globe interview. “Maybe because music has been important to me, it’s something that I take a little less for granted.” [1] [1] Saltzman, J. (2020, June 22). Akouos, a startup developing a gene therapy for hearing loss, raises IPO value to $125 million - The Boston Globe. Retrieved June 30, 2020, from https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/22/business/ipo-upped-akouos-boston-startup-working-gene-therapy-hearing-loss/