The role of the MOG and MTG in speech recovery of patients with hearing loss: a case study

Abstract

Abstract Previous studies show that infants perceive speech left-hemisphere dominantly like adults, but the development of the language brain network in infants is given less attention. Here we show that functional connectivity (FC) with the whole brain in the middle temporal gyrus (MTG) and the middle occipital gyrus(MOG) plays different roles in language development. Two experiments were performed in the present study. In Experiment 1, activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis was employed to identify which brain areas are correlated with the speech outcomes of CI users.Based on the convergent findings, a case study (Experiment 2) was performed with foot reflexological stimulation. Using rs-fMRI, the change of MTG and MOG FC caused by reflexological foot stimulation was examined before age of 3 months and after the age of 6 and 9 months. Compared with control groups, the MTG FC of the infant in the case study is more significantly increased, whereas MOG FC in control is significantly less increased. This suggests MTG and MOG networks play different roles in language development. The increase of MTG FC is linked to good speech perception development, while increased MOG FC indicates poor speech perception development. Our study also shows that the functional status of the MOG and MTG may be used topredict the recovery of speech in CI users.