gms | German Medical Science

25. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Audiologie

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Audiologie e. V.

01.03. - 03.03.2023, Köln

Altered audio-visual interactions in cochlear-implant users: behavioral and electrophysiological evidence

Meeting Abstract

  • presenting/speaker Pascale Sandmann - Universität zu Köln, Humanwissenschaftliche Fakultät, Department Heilpädagogik und Rehabilitation, Lehrstuhl Audiopädagogik, Köln, DE
  • Natalie Layer - Uniklinik Köln, HNO, Köln, DE
  • Anna Weglage - Uniklinik Köln, HNO, Köln, DE
  • Jan-Ole Radecke - Universität zu Lübeck, Lübeck, DE
  • Ruth Lang-Roth - Uniklinik Köln, HNO, Köln, DE
  • Hartmut Meister - Uniklinik Köln, Jean-Uhrmacher-Institut, Köln, DE
  • Martin Walger - Uniklinik Köln, Jean-Uhrmacher-Institut, Köln, DE
  • Verena Müller - Uniklinik Köln, Jean-Uhrmacher-Institut, Köln, DE

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Audiologie e.V.. 25. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Audiologie. Köln, 01.-03.03.2023. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2023. Doc017

doi: 10.3205/23dga017, urn:nbn:de:0183-23dga0171

Published: March 1, 2023

© 2023 Sandmann et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.


Outline

Text

Electrical hearing with a cochlear-implant (CI) is different compared to acoustic hearing. Thus, postlingually deafened CI recipients need to learn how to recognise the new artificial input as meaningful sounds after implantation. There is increasing evidence that CI users show experience-related alterations not only in the auditory cortex but also in the interactions between the auditory and the visual system. In this talk, we are going to present several studies that provide behavioural and electrophysiological evidence of enhanced audio-visual interactions in CI users. In particular, behavioural studies suggest that the CI users have a pronounced improvement in the recognition of speech and environmental sounds when these individuals have simultaneous access to auditory and visual information [1]. This remarkable behavioural audio-visual gain in CI users is supported by event-related potentials, which show that visual stimuli have a stronger influence on auditory processing in CI users than in normal-hearing listeners [2]. It seems that this visual modulation effect on auditory processing is more pronounced in CI users with bilateral hearing loss compared to CI users with unilateral deafness [3]. Nevertheless, both groups of CI users show better lip-reading abilities and increased activation of the visual cortex during the processing of auditory and audio-visual speech stimuli when compared to normal-hearing listeners. Taken together, these results point to experience-related alterations in multisensory processing and visual enhancements which allow to compensate for the limited auditory signal provided by the CI. Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SA 3615/1-1, SA 3615/2-1 and SA 3615/3-1).


References

1.
Radecke JO, Schierholz I, Kral A, Lenarz T, Murray MM, Sandmann P. Distinct multisensory perceptual processes guide enhanced auditory recognition memory in older cochlear implant users. Neuroimage Clin. 2022;33:102942. DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2022.102942 External link
2.
Layer N, Weglage A, Müller V, Meister H, Lang-Roth R, Walger M, Murray MM, Sandmann P. The timecourse of multisensory speech processing in unilaterally stimulated cochlear implant users revealed by ERPs. Neuroimage Clin. 2022;34:102982. DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2022.102982 External link
3.
Layer N, Weglage A, Müller V, Meister H, Lang-Roth R, Walger M, Murray MM, Sandmann P. Electrophysiological differences and similarities in audiovisual speech processing in CI users with unilateral and bilateral hearing loss. Curr Res Neurobiol. 2022 Nov 8;3:100059. DOI: 10.1016/j.crneur.2022.100059 External link