Sensory hair cell damage from high frequency noise exposure.
Fifteen guinea pigs were exposed to the noise of an 'ultrasonic' cleaning bath which gave maximum airborne radiation at 12.5 kHz amounting to 104 dB SPL in the one-third octave band. The animals were exposed for 2.5, 8 or 16 h and killed either 4 or 8 weeks after exposure, following which any damaged sensory hair cells were quantified. One third of the cochleae showed no sign of damage, but one animal had quite severe, scattered hair cell loss throughout both cochleae. The remainder showed some scattered hair cell loss, but only in the basal turn. Great variation was found in the damage to the cochleae of the exposed animals.
D000818:Animals; D003051:Cochlea / Q000473:pathology*; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D006198:Hair Cells, Auditory / Q000473:pathology*; D006317:Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced / Q000473:pathology*; D009410:Nerve Degeneration; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000473:pathology; D013997:Time Factors; D014465:Ultrasonics