Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Brain Imaging Investigation of Phonological Awareness and Passage Comprehension Abilities in Adult Recipients of Cochlear Implants

Abstract

Purpose The aim of this study was to examine how the brains of individuals with cochlear implants (CIs) respond to spoken language tasks that underlie successful language acquisition and processing. Method During functional near-infrared spectroscopy imaging, CI recipients with hearing impairment ( n = 10, mean age: 52.7 ± 17.3 years) and controls with normal hearing ( n = 10, mean age: 50.6 ± 17.2 years) completed auditory tasks—phonological awareness and passage comprehension—commonly used to investigate neurodevelopmental disorders of language and literacy. Results The 2 groups had similar reaction time and performance on experimental tasks, although participants with CIs had lower accuracy than controls. Overall, both CI recipients and controls exhibited similar patterns of brain activation during the tasks. Conclusions The results demonstrate that CI recipients show an overall neurotypical pattern of activation during auditory language tasks on which individuals with neurodevelopmental language learning impairments (e.g., dyslexia) tend to show atypical brain activation. These findings suggest that advancements in functional near-infrared spectroscopy neuroimaging with CI recipients may help shed new light on how varying types of difficulties in language processing affect brain organization for language.