Hearing Impairment: Neurocognitive Consequences and Brain Plasticity

Dear Colleagues,

Hearing impairment is a challenging societal health problem. In children, hearing loss can have detrimental influences on their early speech and language development as well social skills. In adults,  an estimated one-third of the population in the age range of 65-74 and one-half of those above the age of 75 experience hearing difficulty. In addition to effortful listening, recent studies have revealed a greater risk of older adults experiencing depression and developing dementia with a faster rate of decline in cognitive abilities (including attention, memory, executive functions) in association with age-related hearing loss in comparison with individuals with normal hearing.  Auditory neuroscience research has also shown that hearing impairment alters cortical/subcortical brain regions and structural/functional neural connectivity, which leads to behavioral consequences in auditory and language processing as well as cognitive decline. Treating hearing problems is not only important for auditory and language processing but also for cognitive health and social well-being. Modern prosthetic devices such as cochlear implant and hearing assistive technology bring promising and exciting opportunities for auditory rehabilitation to individuals with hearing loss. While research has convincingly documented how hearing loss may have an impact on general spectral and temporal processing, speech and music perception, much less is known about the neurocognitive changes and brain plasticity associated with the use of the various training protocols and hearing devices in the auditory rehabilitation/intervention process.

The purpose of this special issue is to provide an open-access peer-reviewed forum that can bring international experts from related disciplines together to showcase new developments in this active research area of hearing impairment with an emphasis on the nature of neurocognitive consequences and brain plasticity in younger as well as older individuals. This special issue welcomes original studies, review and perspective articles, technical notes, and case studies with basic, clinical or translational research questions.  We also welcome basic research on normal-hearing listeners that have significant implications on neural plasticity of the auditory system as a function of auditory training and experience. To promote this forum, full fee waivers for the article processing charge will be granted to contributors on a rolling basis who demonstrate the need at the discretion of the Guest Editor and the editorial team of Audiology Research.

Prof. Dr. Yang Zhang
Prof. Dr. Seiji Nakagawa
Prof. Dr. Gavin M. Bidelman
Prof. Dr. Anu Sharma
Guest Editors

Dr. Chieh Kao
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Audiology Research is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.