Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the reaction time (RT) performance of subjects with steeply sloping sensorineural hearing loss. This kind of hearing loss has the particularity of inducing a reorganisation of the primary auditory cortex (Dietrich et al., 2001). We investigated whether this cortical plasticity might affect RT. The effect of auditory rehabilitation on reaction time was also studied.

5 subjects undergoing auditory rehabilitation were tested before and three months after their hearing-aid fitting. Changes in discrimination-limen-for-frequency (DLF) and in RT were studied at the frequency with the best DLF for each subject individually (bDLF).

The results demonstrated that RT was unmodified by the local improvement in frequency discrimination. Thus, RT must be controlled by exogenous parameters, masking any potential effect of the cortical reorganisation. However, a significant linear relationship was found between RT and frequency discrimination performance at three months post-rehabilitation.