Spatial selectivity to intracochlear electrical stimulation in the inferior colliculus is degraded after long-term deafness in cats.

In an animal model of electrical hearing in prelingually deaf adults, this study examined the effects of deafness duration on response thresholds and spatial selectivity (i.e., cochleotopic organization, spatial tuning and dynamic range) in the central auditory system to intracochlear electrical stimulation. Electrically evoked auditory brain stem response (EABR) thresholds and neural response thresholds in the external (ICX) and central (ICC) nuclei of the inferior colliculus were estimated in cats after varying durations of neonatally induced deafness: in animals deafened <1.5 yr (short-deafened unstimulated, SDU cats) with a mean spiral ganglion cell (SGC) density of approximately 45% of normal and in animals deafened >2.5 yr (long-deafened, LD cats) with severe cochlear pathology (mean SGC density <7% of normal). LD animals were subdivided into unstimulated cats and those that received chronic intracochlear electrical stimulation via a feline cochlear implant. Acutely deafened, implanted adult cats served as controls. Independent of their stimulation history, LD animals had significantly higher EABR and ICC thresholds than SDU and control animals. Moreover, the spread of electrical excitation was significantly broader and the dynamic range significantly reduced in LD animals. Despite the prolonged durations of deafness the fundamental cochleotopic organization was maintained in both the ICX and the ICC of LD animals. There was no difference between SDU and control cats in any of the response properties tested. These findings suggest that long-term auditory deprivation results in a significant and possibly irreversible degradation of response thresholds and spatial selectivity to intracochlear electrical stimulation in the auditory midbrain.