Effects of Exposure to an Augmented Acoustic Environment on the Mouse Auditory System

The effects of acoustic environment after traumatic noise exposure on hearing and outer hair cells

“…This is in agreement with the studies which showed that the AAE is beneficial for OHCs in mice with genetic age-related hearing loss (Turner and Willott, 1998;Willott and Turner, 1999;Willott and Bross, 2004;Willott et al, 2001Willott et al, , 2005Willott et al, , 2006aWillott et al, ,b, 2008 although Willott et al (2008) pointed out that several factors (e.g. frequency spectrum of the AAE, age, sex) determine whether AAE treatment has positive, negative, or neutral effects in the cochlea.…”

“…Application of AAE in auditory research has a long history and was first employed in mice with genetic agerelated sensorineural hearing loss (Turner and Willott, 1998;Willott and Turner, 1999). A series of studies suggested that AAE can ameliorate the severity and time course of hearing loss as well as OHC loss in C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice (Turner and Willott, 1998;Willott and Turner, 1999;Willott and Bross, 2004;Willott et al, 2001Willott et al, , 2005Willott et al, , 2006aWillott et al, ,b, 2008). …”

Effects of exposing gonadectomized and intact C57BL/6J mice to a high-frequency augmented acoustic environment: Auditory brainstem response thresholds and cytocochleograms

“…It was hypothesized that the high-frequency AAE treatment would ameliorate age-related ABR threshold elevations for high frequencies in B6 mice, as occurred using this AAE regimen in D2 mice. Indeed, all previous studies of AAE treatment found amelioration of progressive hearing loss in B6, D2, and other strains of mice that develop sensorineural damage (see Willott et al, 2001 for a review). Several possibilities -none of which are mutually exclusive --may be explored to account for these findings.…”

Modulation of Presbycusis: Current Status and Future Directions

“…A series of studies exposed C57 and other mice to an 'augmented acoustic environment' (AAE): a regimen of 70 dB SPL noise bursts for 12 h per night (when they are normally active) beginning at age 25 days (adolescence). The AAE had a dramatic effect in allaying the loss of auditory function typical of C57 mice [Turner and Willott, 1998;Willott and Turner, 1999;Willott et al, 2001], as ABR thresholds remained much lower in the AAE-exposed mice. For example, by 12 months of age ABR thresholds for middle-and high-frequency tones of control C57 mice ranged between 65 and 85 dB SPL, whereas those of AAE-exposed mice were 25-30 dB lower (near normal).…”