Severe acoustic trauma in adult rats induced by short duration high intensity sound.
CONCLUSIONS
Short duration high intensity sound (SDHIS) induced severe functional damage in adult rats.


OBJECTIVE
Previous reports showed that SDHIS induced severe histological changes in the cochleae of guinea pigs. This study examined the hearing functions of rats exposed to SDHIS.


METHODS
Animals were exposed for 1 min to a 137 dB sound pressure level (SPL) broadband noise. Auditory functions of the experimental animals were assessed using an auditory brainstem response (ABR) measurement system at frequencies of 8, 16, and 32 kHz before and 14 days after exposure to SDHIS.


RESULTS
After SDHIS, none of the experimental animals showed any response when stimulated by maximum SPLs at all frequencies of our ABR system.
Kojima
Ken
K
Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan. kojimaken@ent.kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Matsumoto
Masahiro
M
Ito
Juichi
J
D000818:Animals; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology; D006317:Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D009622:Noise / Q000009:adverse effects*; D051381:Rats; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013997:Time Factors