OBJECTIVES: In this study we searched for neuroanatomical and functional changes in patients with sensory neural hearing loss, and monitored cortical representation changes induced by the use of individual hearing aids (HA). Patients and METHODS: We followed 14 patients and a control group of 11 asymptomatic volunteers. Data was collected from conventional audiometric tests together with structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (firm) evaluation, in two stages: before fitting of HA and after a year of its continuous use. To study the functional aspects of the brain, and for the evaluation of anatomical alterations, techniques in cortical thickness calculation were implemented. RESULTS: The activation occurred in the anterior and posterior regions of the bilateral superior temporal gyros (STG), mainly in the posterior part of the left STG; Brodmann>s areas 22, 42, 41 and 42. The neurons located in these areas, regenerated one of most superior functions of the brain or associative cortex, responsible for linguistic comprehension in Wernicke area (Broadman 22) show themselves as more active after treatment. CONCLUSION: In this study, we conclude that while a person remains longer with a hearing impairment, there will be a greater probability of his condition worsening and/or cause possible deterioration in the cognitive abilities related to the aspects of learning, memory and emotion, for it is through the interconnections of the neurons between the synapses that the sensorial information is received from several regions, and in this way transferred from one to the other.