Can adult humans adapt to a hearing loss in one ear using multiple strategies? Sound localization is impaired by a hearing loss in one ear. But during development, ferrets adapt to this type of hearing loss using multiple adaptive strategies. This paper shows that adult humans also use multiple adaptive strategies for adapting to a hearing loss in one ear, provided they are given appropriate training on a sound localization task. These adaptive strategies appear to be independent of one another, with some individuals relying more on one adaptive strategy than the other. This suggested to us that these adaptive strategies might rely more on different sets of neurons. This is precisely what we found when we recorded from neurons in ferrets reared with a hearing loss in one ear.
Keating P, Rosenior-Patten O, Dahmen JC, Bell O, King AJ (2016) Behavioral training promotes multiple adaptive processes following acute hearing loss. Elife 5:e12264
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UCL Ear Institute 