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Brain voice processing with bilateral cochlear implants: a positron emission tomography study

  • Otology
  • Published:
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Abstract

Most cochlear implantations are unilateral. To explore the benefits of a binaural cochlear implant, we used water-labelled oxygen-15 positron emission tomography. Relative cerebral blood flow was measured in a binaural implant group (n = 11), while the subjects were passively listening to human voice sounds, environmental sounds non-voice or silence. Binaural auditory stimulation in the cochlear implant group bilaterally activated the temporal voice areas, whereas monaural cochlear implant stimulation only activated the left temporal voice area. Direct comparison of the binaural and the monaural cochlear implant stimulation condition revealed an additional right temporal activation during voice processing in the binaural condition and the activation of a right fronto-parietal cortical network during sound processing that has been implicated in attention. These findings provide evidence that a bilateral cochlear implant stimulation enhanced the spectral cues associated with sound perception and improved brain processing of voice stimuli in the right temporal region when compared to a monaural cochlear implant stimulation. Moreover, the recruitment of sensory attention resources in a right fronto-parietal network allowed patients with bilateral cochlear implant stimulation to enhance their sound discrimination, whereas the same patients with only one cochlear implant stimulation had more auditory perception difficulties.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Beaujon Hospital clinical team for their assistance and the patients for their participation in this study. This work was supported by the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Inserm, France, and the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique, CEA, France. The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CEA-Inserm U1000 Neuroimaging and Psychiatry, Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot, IFR49, 91401, Orsay, France

    Arnaud Coez, Monica Zilbovicius & Jean-Luc Martinot

  2. CEA, DRM, DSV, Service Hospitalier Frédéric-Joliot, 91401, Orsay, France

    Arnaud Coez, Monica Zilbovicius, Jean-Luc Martinot & Yves Samson

  3. Laboratoire de Correction Auditive, Eric Bizaguet, 20, rue Thérèse, 75001, Paris, France

    Arnaud Coez & Eric Bizaguet

  4. UMR-S 867, Inserm, 75018, Paris, France

    Evelyne Ferrary, Didier Bouccara, Isabelle Mosnier & Olivier Sterkers

  5. Service d’ORL et de Chirurgie Cervico-Faciale, AP-HP, Hôpital Beaujon, 92110, Clichy, France

    Evelyne Ferrary, Didier Bouccara, Emmanuèle Ambert-Dahan & Olivier Sterkers

  6. Université Paris, 7 Denis Diderot, Paris, France

    Evelyne Ferrary, Didier Bouccara, Isabelle Mosnier & Olivier Sterkers

  7. Institut Fédératif de Recherche Claude Bernard Physiologie et Pathologie, IFR02, 75018, Paris, France

    Evelyne Ferrary, Didier Bouccara, Isabelle Mosnier & Olivier Sterkers

  8. Service d’ORL et de Chirurgie Cervico-Faciale, AP-HP, Hôpital Louis Mourier, 92700, Colombes, France

    Isabelle Mosnier & Olivier Sterkers

  9. Service Urgences Cérébro-Vasculaires, AP-HP, Hôpital Pitié-Salpétrière, 75013, Paris, France

    Yves Samson

  10. Université Paris, 6 Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France

    Yves Samson

Authors
  1. Arnaud Coez
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  2. Monica Zilbovicius
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  3. Evelyne Ferrary
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  4. Didier Bouccara
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  5. Isabelle Mosnier
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  6. Emmanuèle Ambert-Dahan
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  7. Eric Bizaguet
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  8. Jean-Luc Martinot
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  9. Yves Samson
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  10. Olivier Sterkers
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Correspondence to Arnaud Coez.

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Coez, A., Zilbovicius, M., Ferrary, E. et al. Brain voice processing with bilateral cochlear implants: a positron emission tomography study. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 271, 3187–3193 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-013-2810-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-013-2810-8

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