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New EM, Hurd JA, Alarcon GA, Miller CS, Williams PA, Greene NT, Sergott CE, Li BZ, Lei TC, McCullagh EA. Hearing ability of prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster). THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2024; 155:555-567. [PMID: 38259128 PMCID: PMC10807928 DOI: 10.1121/10.0024357] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2023] [Revised: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 12/27/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2024]
Abstract
The hearing abilities of mammals are impacted by factors such as social cues, habitat, and physical characteristics. Despite being used commonly to study social behaviors, hearing of the monogamous prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) has never been characterized. In this study, anatomical features are measured and auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) are used to measure auditory capabilities of prairie voles, characterizing monaural and binaural hearing and hearing range. Sexually naive male and female voles were measured to characterize differences due to sex. It was found that prairie voles show a hearing range with greatest sensitivity between 8 and 32 kHz, binaural hearing across interaural time difference ranges appropriate for their head sizes. No differences are shown between the sexes in binaural hearing or hearing range (except at 1 kHz), however, female voles have increased amplitude of peripheral ABR waves I and II and longer latency of waves III and IV compared to males. The results confirm that prairie voles have a broad hearing range, binaural hearing consistent with rodents of similar size, and differences in amplitudes and thresholds of monaural physiological measures between the sexes. These data further highlight the necessity to understand sex-specific differences in neural processing that may underly variability in responses between sexes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily M New
- Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078, USA
| | - Jessica A Hurd
- Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078, USA
| | - Genesis A Alarcon
- Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078, USA
| | - Cameron S Miller
- Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078, USA
| | - Peyton A Williams
- Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078, USA
| | - Nathaniel T Greene
- Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA
| | - Casey E Sergott
- Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078, USA
| | - Ben-Zheng Li
- Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado 80204, USA
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA
| | - Tim C Lei
- Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado 80204, USA
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA
| | - Elizabeth A McCullagh
- Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078, USA
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