Hearing Loss and Age-Induced Changes in the Central Auditory System Measured by the P3 Response to Small Changes in Frequency.

Background: Recent behavioral studies have suggested that individuals with sloping audiograms exhibit localized improvements in frequency discrimination in the frequency region near the drop in hearing. Auditory-evoked potentials may provide evidence of such cortical plasticity and reorganization of frequency maps.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to evaluate electrophysiological evidence of cortical plasticity related to cortical frequency representation and discrimination abilities in older individuals with high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL).