Hearing is critical to spoken language, cognitive, and social development. Little is known about how early auditory experiences impact the brain structure of children with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. This study examined the influence of hearing aid use and residual hearing on the auditory cortex of children with severe to profound congenital sensorineural hearing loss. We evaluated cortical preservation in 103 young pediatric cochlear implant candidates (55 females and 48 males) by comparing their multivoxel pattern similarity of auditory cortical structure with that of 78 age-matched children with typical hearing. The results demonstrated that early-stage hearing aid use preserved the auditory cortex of children with bilateral congenital sensorineural hearing loss. Children with less residual hearing experienced a more pronounced advantage from hearing aid use. However, this beneficial effect gradually diminished after 17 months of hearing aid use. These findings support timely fitting of hearing aids in conjunction with early implantation to take advantage of neural preservation to maximize auditory and spoken language development.

中文翻译：

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早期使用助听器可保留感音神经性听力损失儿童的听觉皮层结构

听力对于口语、认知和社交发展至关重要。人们对早期听觉体验如何影响双侧感音神经性听力损失儿童的大脑结构知之甚少。这项研究探讨了助听器的使用和残余听力对患有重度至极重先天性感音神经性听力损失的儿童听觉皮层的影响。我们通过比较 103 名年轻儿童人工耳蜗候选者（55 名女性和 48 名男性）的听觉皮层结构的多体素模式相似性与 78 名具有典型听力的年龄匹配儿童的多体素模式相似性，评估了皮层保存情况。结果表明，早期使用助听器可以保护双侧先天性感音神经性听力损失儿童的听觉皮层。残余听力较少的儿童从使用助听器中获得了更明显的优势。然而，使用助听器 17 个月后，这种有益效果逐渐减弱。这些发现支持及时验配助听器并结合早期植入，利用神经保留来最大限度地提高听觉和口语的发展。