Activation lateralization in human core, belt, and parabelt auditory fields with unilateral deafness compared to normal hearing

► Auditory cortex in normal and unilateral deaf responded to random spectrogram sounds. ► Monaural stimulation evoked larger contralateral responses in normal hearing. ► Ipsilateral responses were larger in core auditory cortical fields of unilateral deaf. ► Belt fields showed enhanced ipsilateral responses with left ear deafness. ► Posterior parabelt fields showed reduced activation irrespective of deafness side.