The medial cochlear efferent system does not appear to contribute to the development of acquired resistance to acoustic trauma

Abstract

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) was compared between sound conditioned and unconditioned guinea pigs, in which the left ear in both groups had been perfused with strychnine. Animals in the conditioned group were subjected to moderate sound (85 dB SPL broadband, 5 h/day, 10 days) and then exposed to intense sound (110 dB SPL broadband, 5 h). Unconditioned animals were exposed only to the intense sound. Following intense sound exposure, strychnine-treated ears showed greater NIHL than untreated ears in both unconditioned and conditioned animals, demonstrating the role of the medial efferents to reduce NIHL. Conditioned animals, however, showed smaller hearing loss and cochlear damage in both strychnine-treated and untreated ears compared to unconditioned animals; the protective effects given by conditioning were equivalent between the strychnine-treated and untreated ears. These results suggest that, although the medial efferent system acts to attenuate NIHL, it may not be necessary for the acquired resistance to NIHL provided by conditioning.