Bursts of vagus nerve stimulation paired with auditory rehabilitation fail to improve speech sound perception in rats with hearing loss
Alan M. Carroll,
Jonathan R. Riley,
Michael S. Borland,
Tanya T. Danaphongse,
Seth A. Hays,
Michael P. Kilgard,
Crystal T. Engineer
Affiliations
Alan M. Carroll
The University of Texas at Dallas, Texas Biomedical Device Center, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080-3021, USA; Department of Neuroscience, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080-3021, USA; Corresponding author
Jonathan R. Riley
The University of Texas at Dallas, Texas Biomedical Device Center, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080-3021, USA; Department of Neuroscience, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080-3021, USA
Michael S. Borland
The University of Texas at Dallas, Texas Biomedical Device Center, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080-3021, USA
Tanya T. Danaphongse
The University of Texas at Dallas, Texas Biomedical Device Center, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080-3021, USA
Seth A. Hays
The University of Texas at Dallas, Texas Biomedical Device Center, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080-3021, USA; Department of Bioengineering, Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080-3021, USA
Michael P. Kilgard
The University of Texas at Dallas, Texas Biomedical Device Center, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080-3021, USA; Department of Neuroscience, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080-3021, USA
Crystal T. Engineer
The University of Texas at Dallas, Texas Biomedical Device Center, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080-3021, USA; Department of Neuroscience, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080-3021, USA
Summary: Hearing loss can lead to long-lasting effects on the central nervous system, and current therapies, such as auditory training and rehabilitation, show mixed success in improving perception and speech comprehension. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an adjunctive therapy that can be paired with rehabilitation to facilitate behavioral recovery after neural injury. However, VNS for auditory recovery has not been tested after severe hearing loss or significant damage to peripheral receptors. This study investigated the utility of pairing VNS with passive or active auditory rehabilitation in a rat model of noise-induced hearing loss. Although auditory rehabilitation helped rats improve their frequency discrimination, learn novel speech discrimination tasks, and achieve speech-in-noise performance similar to normal hearing controls, VNS did not enhance recovery of speech sound perception. These results highlight the limitations of VNS as an adjunctive therapy for hearing loss rehabilitation and suggest that optimal benefits from neuromodulation may require restored peripheral signaling.
