Research project: Brain connectivity modelling in cochlear implants
The human brain is regarded as an ensemble of dynamic systems. Communication between neural centres is of the utmost importance and many different cortical and subcortical brain areas have to coordinate to perceive sounds. The proper connections between brain areas are essential for normal hearing. After hearing loss, the connections and information pathways between these areas rearrange and this may be one of the major reasons for unsatisfactory speech perception after cochlear implantation. The brain may re-organise or even have/make plasticity for better speech perception after cochlear implantation but the success of this process depends on many factors such as the age of implantation and the length of deafness. It is shown that although both children and adults can benefit from cochlear implantation, for adults it is not as much as children. It remains unclear how the brain connection/ re-organisation contributes to these situations.