Abstract:  Every living being has a unique history of sound experience. While high intensity noise exposures can damage the inner ear, exposure to moderate level sounds can also alter auditory function and hearing abilities. Variations in sound experience may contribute to differences in hearing-in-noise abilities in listeners with hearing loss and with normal hearing (i.e., “hidden hearing loss”). Two mechanisms that may underlie hearing-in-noise deficits are noise-induced cochlear synaptopathy and olivocochlear dysfunction – neither of which is captured in standard audiometric testing. My research aims to understand how sound experience contributes to 1) structure and function of the auditory periphery, with a focus on the olivocochlear efferent system, and 2) physiological and perceptual measures of hearing in noise. In this talk, I will first describe patterns of hearing-in-noise deficits in nonhuman primates with noise-induced synaptopathy. Second, I will discuss approaches for studying sound-induced plasticity of the olivocochlear pathways in mouse models. I will briefly describe physiological and perceptual hearing-in-noise abilities in transgenic mice with medial olivocochlear dysfunction. Then, I will describe changes in lateral olivocochlear neuron neurotransmitter expression caused by minimally traumatic noise exposures. I will conclude by discussing next steps for understanding the relationship between early sound experience, olivocochlear function, and hearing-in-noise abilities in mice, with eventual translation to human populations.

This year’s SHRP schedule is available here: https://purdue.edu/TPAN/hearing/shrp_schedule

Titles and abstracts of all SHRP talks are here: https://purdue.edu/TPAN/hearing/shrp_abstracts