Altered functional connectivity in infants with congenital bilateral severe sensorineural hearing loss: A resting-state functional MRI study under sedation

Early hearing deprivation could affect the development of auditory, language and vision ability. Insufficient or no stimulation of the auditory cortex during the sensitive periods of plasticity could lead to abnormal function of hearing and language development. Some of vision and executive functions were enhanced due to the loss of hearing. Twenty-three (23) children (mean age 24.18±14.00 month). with congenital severe sensorineural hearing loss and 17 age and sex matched normal hearing subjects were recruited and the resting state fMRI was performed on a 3.0 T superconductive scanner. The amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo) of the functional brain area were compared between deaf children and normal subjects. Compared with normal hearing subjects, decreased ALFF was observed in auditory and language related cortex. Increased ALFF was observed in vision related cortex. Decreased ReHo was observed in auditory and language related cortex. Increased ReHo was observed in vision related cortex. ALFF value in language related cortex, Brodmann area 45 (BA45) was negatively correlated with age in hearing loss children (r=−0.568, p=0.005). ALFF value in BA39 was positively correlated with age in deaf children (r=0.574, p=0.004). ALFF value in BA47 was positively correlated with age in normal subjects (r=−0.229, p=0.029). Abnormal ALFF and ReHo in deaf children could reflect the reshape of function of brain area related with auditory, language and vision ability.