Changes in Structure and Connectivity of Auditory Cortex in Patients with Unilateral Hearing Loss

The purpose of this study was to investigate cortical structural and connectivity changes in the auditory system due to the absence of unilateral input signals from the hearing-impaired ear in patients with unilateral hearing loss. Twenty-seven patients who have severe to profound unilateral hearing loss participated. T-1 images were acquired to calculate the normalized cortcial volume (nCV), and seed-based connectivity analysis was performed. It was shown that the nCV of Te 3.0 was decreased in the left unilateral hearing loss (LUHL). In LUHL group, a significant structural correlation was observed between region of interests (ROIs) within the auditory cortices of bilateral hemispheres, while right unilateral hearing loss (RUHL) group showed significant correlation between thalamus and auditory cortical regions. We proposed that cortical structural reorganization in unilateral hearing loss patients, that is different by deafness side. These results are expected to be related to individual binaural hearing performance in unilateral hearing loss.