Open AccessInterregional Brain Interactions in Children with Unilateral Hearing Loss
Author(s) -
Tibbetts Kathleen,
Ead Banan,
Umansky Amy,
Coalson Rebecca,
Schlaggar Bradley L.,
Firszt Jill B.,
Lieu Judith E. C.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
otolaryngology–head and neck surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.232
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1097-6817
pISSN - 0194-5998
DOI - 10.1177/0194599810394954
Subject(s) - resting state fmri , audiology , posterior cingulate , psychology , inferior parietal lobule , functional magnetic resonance imaging , functional connectivity , inferior temporal gyrus , auditory cortex , gyrus , globus pallidus , neuroscience , medicine , temporal lobe , basal ganglia , epilepsy , central nervous system
Objective To determine whether patterns of functional connectivity of cortical regions responsible for auditory processing and executive functions differ in children with unilateral hearing loss (UHL) versus their normal‐hearing (NH) siblings. Study Design Prospective observational study. Setting Academic medical center. Subjects and Methods Children with severe‐to‐profound UHL (9 right UHL, 7 left UHL) and 10 NH sibling controls were imaged using resting state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (rs‐fcMRI). All MRI images were transformed to a single common atlas; regions of interest (ROI) were chosen based on previous literature and unpublished results. Mean regionwise correlations and conjunction analyses were performed across 34 seed ROIs to identify temporally synchronized, low‐frequency spontaneous fluctuations in the resting state blood oxygenation level–dependent signal that reveal functionally related regions. Results Mean regionwise Student t tests found a left posterior opercular region with more correlated resting state activity with the inferior parietal lobule seed in the children with both left and right UHL than NH. In conjunction analysis, 4 regions showed different resting‐state functional interactions between the NH and both UHL groups. These differences were in left medial globus pallidus, left middle temporal gyrus, right parahippocampal gyrus, and mid‐cingulate cortex. These regions include areas associated with auditory processing, executive function, and memory formation. Conclusions Resting state fcMRI identified differences in brain network interconnections between children with UHL and NH and may inform further investigation into the educational and behavioral difficulties experienced by children with UHL.