McCauley Robert D, Fewtrell Jane, Popper Arthur N
Centre for Marine Science and Technology, Curtin University, GPO Box U 1987, Perth 6845, Western Australia.
J Acoust Soc Am. 2003 Jan;113(1):638-42. doi: 10.1121/1.1527962.
Marine petroleum exploration involves the repetitive use of high-energy noise sources, air-guns, that produce a short, sharp, low-frequency sound. Despite reports of behavioral responses of fishes and marine mammals to such noise, it is not known whether exposure to air-guns has the potential to damage the ears of aquatic vertebrates. It is shown here that the ears of fish exposed to an operating air-gun sustained extensive damage to their sensory epithelia that was apparent as ablated hair cells. The damage was regionally severe, with no evidence of repair or replacement of damaged sensory cells up to 58 days after air-gun exposure.
海洋石油勘探涉及反复使用高能噪声源——气枪，气枪会产生短暂、尖锐的低频声音。尽管有报道称鱼类和海洋哺乳动物会对这种噪声产生行为反应，但尚不清楚暴露在气枪噪声下是否有可能损害水生脊椎动物的耳朵。本文表明，暴露在工作气枪噪声下的鱼类耳朵的感觉上皮受到了广泛损伤，表现为毛细胞脱落。这种损伤在局部区域很严重，在气枪暴露后长达58天内，没有证据表明受损的感觉细胞得到修复或替换。
