Noise level, inner hair cell damage, audiometric features, and equal-energy hypothesis

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Rabbits were exposed to 2‐ to 7‐kHz noise either for a short duration at a high sound‐pressure level (15 or 30 min at 115 dB SPL), or a long duration at a low level (512 h at 85 dB SPL). The high‐level exposure produced a hearing loss in the frequency range 2–6 kHz, whereas the low‐level exposure gave maximum hearing loss at 12–20 kHz. The 115‐dB exposure caused significantly more damage to inner hair cells than the 85‐dB exposure. The implications of the present results for evaluating audiograms, equal‐energy hypothesis, risk criteria, and subjective auditory features are pointed out.