In psychophysical studies of noise-induced hearing loss with marine mammals, exposure conditions are often titrated from levels of no effect to those that induce significant but recoverable loss of auditory sensitivity [temporary threshold shift (TTS)]. To examine TTS from mid-frequency noise, a harbor seal was exposed to a 4.1-kHz underwater tone that was incrementally increased in sound pressure level (SPL) and duration. The seal's hearing was evaluated at the exposure frequency and one-half octave higher (5.8 kHz) to identify the noise parameters associated with TTS onset. No reliable TTS was measured with increasing sound exposure level until the second exposure to a 60-s fatiguing tone of 181 dB re 1 μPa SPL (sound exposure level 199 dB re 1 μPa2s), after which an unexpectedly large threshold shift (>47 dB) was observed. While hearing at 4.1 kHz recovered within 48 h, there was a permanent threshold shift of at least 8 dB at 5.8 kHz. This hearing loss was evident for more than ten years. Furthermore, a residual threshold shift of 11 dB was detected one octave above the tonal exposure, at 8.2 kHz. This hearing loss persisted for more than two years prior to full recovery.
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October 2019
October 21 2019
Long-term evidence of noise-induced permanent threshold shift in a harbor seal (Phoca vitulina)a)
Colleen Reichmuth;
Colleen Reichmuth
b)
Institute of Marine Sciences, Long Marine Laboratory, University of California
Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95060, USA
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Jillian M. Sills;
Jillian M. Sills
Institute of Marine Sciences, Long Marine Laboratory, University of California
Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95060, USA
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Jason Mulsow;
Jason Mulsow
National Marine Mammal Foundation
, 2240 Shelter Island Drive, Suite 200, San Diego, California 92106, USA
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Asila Ghoul
Asila Ghoul
Institute of Marine Sciences, Long Marine Laboratory, University of California Santa Cruz
, Santa Cruz, California 95060, USA
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b)
Electronic mail: [email protected]
a)
Portions of this work were presented at the 155th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, 9th Congrès Français D'Acoustique, Paris, France, May 2008.
J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 146, 2552–2561 (2019)
Article history
Received:
June 28 2019
Accepted:
September 25 2019
Citation
Colleen Reichmuth, Jillian M. Sills, Jason Mulsow, Asila Ghoul; Long-term evidence of noise-induced permanent threshold shift in a harbor seal (Phoca vitulina). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 1 October 2019; 146 (4): 2552–2561. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.5129379
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