Journal
BRAIN STIMULATION
Volume 10, Issue 3, Pages 543-552Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2017.01.007
Keywords
Speech therapy; Aphasia; Autism; Dyslexia; Vagal nerve stimulation
Categories
Funding
- National Institutes of Health [R01DC010433, R44DC010084]
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Biological Technologies Office (BTO) Electrical Prescriptions (ElectRx) program through Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Pacific Cooperative [HR0011-15-2-0017, N66001-15-2-4057]
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Background: Many individuals with language learning impairments exhibit temporal processing deficits and degraded neural responses to speech sounds. Auditory training can improve both the neural and behavioral deficits, though significant deficits remain. Recent evidence suggests that vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) paired with rehabilitative therapies enhances both cortical plasticity and recovery of normal function. Objective/Hypothesis: We predicted that pairing VNS with rapid tone trains would enhance the primary auditory cortex (A1) response to unpaired novel speech sounds. Methods: VNS was paired with tone trains 300 times per day for 20 days in adult rats. Responses to isolated speech sounds, compressed speech sounds, word sequences, and compressed word sequences were recorded in A1 following the completion of VNS-tone train pairing. Results: Pairing VNS with rapid tone trains resulted in stronger, faster, and more discriminable A1 responses to speech sounds presented at conversational rates. Conclusion: This study extends previous findings by documenting that VNS paired with rapid tone trains altered the neural response to novel unpaired speech sounds. Future studies are necessary to determine whether pairing VNS with appropriate auditory stimuli could potentially be used to improve both neural responses to speech sounds and speech perception in individuals with receptive language disorders. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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