Skip to main content
Publications | Persons | Institutes | Projects
[ report an error in this record ]basket (0): add | show Print this page

Similar susceptibility to temporary hearing threshold shifts despite different audiograms in harbor porpoises and harbor seals
Gransier, R.; Kastelein, R.A. (2024). Similar susceptibility to temporary hearing threshold shifts despite different audiograms in harbor porpoises and harbor seals. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 155(1): 396-404. https://dx.doi.org/10.1121/10.0024343
In: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. American Institute of Physics: New York. ISSN 0001-4966; e-ISSN 1520-8524, more
Peer reviewed article  

Available in  Authors 

Keyword
    Marine/Coastal

Authors  Top 
  • Gransier, R., more
  • Kastelein, R.A.

Abstract

    When they are exposed to loud fatiguing sounds in the oceans, marine mammals are susceptible to hearing damage in the form of temporary hearing threshold shifts (TTSs) or permanent hearing threshold shifts. We compared the level-dependent and frequency-dependent susceptibility to TTSs in harbor seals and harbor porpoises, species with different hearing sensitivities in the low- and high-frequency regions. Both species were exposed to 100% duty cycle one-sixth-octave noise bands at frequencies that covered their entire hearing range. In the case of the 6.5 kHz exposure for the harbor seals, a pure tone (continuous wave) was used. TTS was quantified as a function of sound pressure level (SPL) half an octave above the center frequency of the fatiguing sound. The species have different audiograms, but their frequency-specific susceptibility to TTS was more similar. The hearing frequency range in which both species were most susceptible to TTS was 22.5–50 kHz. Furthermore, the frequency ranges were characterized by having similar critical levels (defined as the SPL of the fatiguing sound above which the magnitude of TTS induced as a function of SPL increases more strongly). This standardized between-species comparison indicates that the audiogram is not a good predictor of frequency-dependent susceptibility to TTS.


All data in the Integrated Marine Information System (IMIS) is subject to the VLIZ privacy policy Top | Authors