Abstract
Changes of hearing thresholds have been studied in guinea pigs following exposure to 100 simulated sonic booms. Simulated sonic booms increased the hearing thresholds at frequencies above 30 kHz. The only early structural change observed was an appearance of a small blood clot in the scala tympani of the basal turn of the cochlea. Although these changes may be specific for small laboratory animals only, they indicate that caution is necessary in exposing people to repeated or intense sonic booms. Also, the data indicate that, following the exposure to the sonic booms, the high frequency hearing is influenced first. Therefore, audiometric testing following the sonic boom exposure should not be limited to the routine audiometric curve ending at 8 kHz.
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