Peripheral hearing damage may trigger compensatory excitation-inhibition shifts in brainstem

Evidence

Moreover, these same techniques can be exploited to address potential changes in the balance between excitation and inhibition (“central gain change”) in brainstem nuclei following damage to the periphery. Such approaches have previously proved informative across sensory modalities (e.g., Rust et al. 2005 ), and will likely yield results with tangible translational value. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3876

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth chasing: the phenomenon of ‘central gain’ in audiology — that the brain up-regulates gain after peripheral loss — and whether it explains why similar cochlear damage yields very different perceptual outcomes across individuals.
• DEFINE: The passage defines ‘central gain change’ as an altered excitation/inhibition balance in brainstem nuclei following peripheral damage.