Noise produced by vacuuming exceeds the hearing thresholds of C57Bl/6 and CD1 mice.
Daily vacuuming of floors and flat-shelf racks is a standard procedure in our rodent housing rooms. To determine whether the noise produced by this activity is a potential stressor to animals used for transgenic and knockout mouse production, we measured the sound levels in our genetically engineered mouse facility under ambient conditions and at the in-cage and room levels during vacuuming. Spectral analysis showed that vacuuming produces a multitonal, low-frequency noise that is not attenuated by microisolation caging with bedding material. Comparison of cage-level spectral analysis results with age-specific audiograms of C57Bl/6 and CD1 mice showed that vacuuming produces frequencies audible to C57Bl/6 mice at 3 and 6 mo of age and to CD1 mice at 1 mo of age. These findings suggest that vacuuming in animal rooms could be a source of stress to animals with these genetic backgrounds.
Naff
Katherine A
KA
Department of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA. kanaff@mdanderson.org
Riva
Catherine M
CM
Craig
Suzanne L
SL
Gray
Kenneth N
KN
D000827:Animal Welfare; D000818:Animals; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000032:analysis; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology; D006799:Housing, Animal; D007756:Laboratory Animal Science / Q000592:standards; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL / Q000502:physiology*; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains / Q000502:physiology*; D009622:Noise; D013312:Stress, Physiological