When Silence
Scientific Knowledge
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Daniel B. Polley

Director, Eaton-Peabody Laboratories

Cortical plasticity, gain control, and perceptual disorders following cochlear injury.

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Papers (5)

Cortical PV interneurons regulate loudness perception and sustainably reverse loudness hypersensitivity.

Neuron · 2026

40 Hz stimulation of cortical PV interneurons durably reverses loudness hypersensitivity in mice.

Animal study (in vivo)
Mouse

Cochlear neural degeneration disrupts hearing in background noise by increasing auditory cortex internal noise.

Neuron · 2021

Cochlear neural degeneration drives PV-linked cortical hyperactivity that predicts hearing-in-noise failures.

Animal study (in vivo)
Mouse

Fast-spiking GABA circuit dynamics in the auditory cortex predict recovery of sensory processing following peripheral nerve damage.

eLife · 2017

Homeostatic dynamics of PV-mediated cortical inhibition in the first days after auditory-nerve damage predict how well sound processing recovers.

Animal study (in vivo)
Mouse

Central Gain Restores Auditory Processing following Near-Complete Cochlear Denervation.

Neuron · 2016

After near-complete cochlear denervation, the cortex ramps up 'central gain' to restore basic sound detection, compensation that can overshoot into hyperactivity.

Animal study (in vivo)
Mouse

A National Cohort Study of Tinnitus and Hearing Loss in the Million Veteran Program.

Ear and hearing · 2026

National VA cohort of 267,395 veterans finds tinnitus in 47%, more common with traumatic brain injury, anxiety, or depression, and with earlier/steeper hearing loss than a civilian cohort.

Human study (non-randomized / first-in-human)
Human