The effect of 'conditioning' on hearing loss from a high frequency traumatic exposure.

The role of high frequency, low level 'conditioning' exposures as moderators of hearing loss from subsequent exposure to the same noise at a higher level was studied using monaural chinchillas. All the animals in the experimental groups were exposed to an octave band noise centered at 4 kHz at 85 dB SPL for 6 h a day for 10 days. One of the experimental groups was allowed to recover for 5 days and the other was allowed to recover for 18 h, prior to the higher level exposure at 100 dB for 48 h. A third group exposed only to the higher level constituted the control group. A comparison of threshold shifts and hair cell loss after 4 weeks of recovery across the three groups revealed: (a) the 5-day recovery group incurred greater threshold shifts than the other two groups; the hair cell loss in this group was greater than in the 18-h recovery group, but the same as in the control group and (b) the 18-h recovery group incurred considerably less threshold shift as well as hair cell loss than the other two groups. The results were also compared with the results from similar exposures using low frequency noise which indicated that the base vs. apex differences in the cochlea appear to extend to the effects of 'conditioning' exposures.