Observation of Cortical Activity During Speech Stimulation in Prelingually Deafened Adults With Cochlear Implantation by Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography

Objectives: We evaluated the cortical activity of 2 successful prelingually deafened adult cochlear implant (Cl) users who have been trained by auditory-verbal/oral communication since childhood. Methods: Changes in regional cerebral blood flow were measured by positron emission tomography using F-18-fluorodeoxyglucose while the subjects were receiving auditory language stimuli by listening to a story. Ten normal-hearing volunteers were observed as age-matched control subjects. Results: In both cases, the auditory-related regions, when compared to same regions in the control subjects, showed hypermetabolism in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the left precentral gyms similar to that in successful Cl users who are prelingually deafened children or postlingually deafened adults. Both subjects had the ability to activate these areas, and this ability might be one of the reasons that accounts for such exceptionally good performance in older prelingually deaf Cl users. As for the visual-related regions, hypometabolism was observed in Brodmann areas 18 and 19, and this finding might be related to the intensive auditory-verbal/oral education that the subjects had received since childhood. Conclusions: Despite the limits imposed by the small sample size and the spatial resolution of positron emission tomography, this study yielded insights into the nature of the brain plasticity in prelingually deafened adults who are successful CI users.