Transient conductive hearing loss (CHL) during development. Top left: Schematic of coronal section of a guinea pig skull (traced from high-resolution CT scan). A custom-made earplug is fitted within the cartilaginous ear canal (dotted line), a safe distance from the tympanic membrane (TM). Inset: View of external ear with earplug in place. Top right: Earplugs provide 10–35 dB SPL sound attenuation for frequencies >1 kHz. Bottom: Experimental timeline. Litters of newborn guinea pigs were divided into two groups at hearing onset (birth): pups that were raised with no earplug (littermate Controls) and pups that were raised with a unilateral earplug (“Early CHL”). Earplugs remained in place until adulthood (P56). Following earplug removal, animals were tested on: auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) including the binaural interaction component (BIC), a startle-based spatial discrimination task, and in vivo single-unit recordings in the auditory midbrain (i.e., inferior colliculus, IC). All testing was done within 1 week of earplug removal.
Early unilateral auditory deprivation can cause lasting spatial #hearing deficits. @anbuhlk.bsky.social &co show that unilateral #HearingLoss during development (but not adult-onset) impairs binaural #brainstem function & spatial hearing acuity in guinea pigs @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/46njw1P