Evidence of neuroplasticity in older adults induced by hearing aid use through auditory evoked potentials: Systematic Review

• Grant number: 23/17572-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2024
• End date: December 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Speech Therapy
• Principal Investigator: Caroline Nunes Rocha-Muniz
• Grantee: Najat Ahmad Abbas
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Médicas da Santa Casa de São Paulo (FCMSCSP). Fundação Arnaldo Vieira de Carvalho. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant(s): 25/01008-2 - American Academy of Audiology Annual Conference + HearTECH 2025, AR.EXT

Abstract

Introduction: neural plasticity has two directions, it occurs through stimulation and deprivation, sensory changes in the environment alter our sensory experience and can lead to the reorganization of the central nervous system. Hearing aid (HA) modifies the sensory experience by stimulating the impaired auditory system through the reintroduction of the sound stimuli and may be capable of inducing changes in the Central Auditory Nervous System (SANC). Purpose: therefore, this review will analyze articles that researched the neurophysiological changes induced after hearing aid use on the auditory system in older adults. Methodology: will only be selected articles that characterized Long Latency Auditory Evoked Potentials (LAEPs) in adults over 50 years old with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), verifying the effects of auditory stimulation by comparing these potentials before and after hearing aid adaptation. All articles will go through a filtering process following the PRISMA flowchart guidelines, assessment of the risk of bias using the ROBINS-I tool and assessment of the quality of evidence and strength of recommendation using GRADE. Expected results: findings that reinforce evidence in the field of neurophysiology that increasingly seeks to understand the effects of sound amplification in individuals with Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SNHL), where the change in the latency of the P1, N1 and P2 components will be shown to be an effective parameter in the evaluation of SNAC neuroplasticity in most studies and effective for monitoring rehabilitation in clinical practice.