Assessing auditory evoked potentials of wild harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena)

© 2016 Acoustical Society of America. Testing the hearing abilities of marine mammals under water is a challenging task. Sample sizes are usually low, thus limiting the ability to generalize findings of susceptibility towards noise influences. A method to measure harbor porpoise hearing thresholds i...

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Main Authors: Ruser, A., Dähne, M., Van Neer, A., Lucke, Klaus, Sundermeyer, J., Siebert, U., Houser, D., Finneran, J., Everaarts, E., Meerbeek, J., Dietz, R., Sveegaard, S., Teilmann, J.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Acoustical Society of America 2016
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/13865
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author Ruser, A.
Dähne, M.
Van Neer, A.
Lucke, Klaus
Sundermeyer, J.
Siebert, U.
Houser, D.
Finneran, J.
Everaarts, E.
Meerbeek, J.
Dietz, R.
Sveegaard, S.
Teilmann, J.
author_facet Ruser, A.
Dähne, M.
Van Neer, A.
Lucke, Klaus
Sundermeyer, J.
Siebert, U.
Houser, D.
Finneran, J.
Everaarts, E.
Meerbeek, J.
Dietz, R.
Sveegaard, S.
Teilmann, J.
author_sort Ruser, A.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description © 2016 Acoustical Society of America. Testing the hearing abilities of marine mammals under water is a challenging task. Sample sizes are usually low, thus limiting the ability to generalize findings of susceptibility towards noise influences. A method to measure harbor porpoise hearing thresholds in situ in outdoor conditions using auditory steady state responses of the brainstem was developed and tested. The method was used on 15 live-stranded animals from the North Sea during rehabilitation, shortly before release into the wild, and on 12 wild animals incidentally caught in pound nets in Denmark (inner Danish waters). Results indicated that although the variability between individuals is wide, the shape of the hearing curve is generally similar to previously published results from behavioral trials. Using 10-kHz frequency intervals between 10 and 160 kHz, best hearing was found between 120 and 130 kHz. Additional testing using one-third octave frequency intervals (from 16 to 160 kHz) allowed for a much faster hearing assessment, but eliminated the fine scale threshold characteristics. For further investigations, the method will be used to better understand the factors influencing sensitivity differences across individuals and to establish population-level parameters describing hearing abilities of harbor porpoises.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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last_indexed 2025-11-14T07:05:25Z
publishDate 2016
publisher Acoustical Society of America
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-138652017-09-13T15:01:41Z Assessing auditory evoked potentials of wild harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) Ruser, A. Dähne, M. Van Neer, A. Lucke, Klaus Sundermeyer, J. Siebert, U. Houser, D. Finneran, J. Everaarts, E. Meerbeek, J. Dietz, R. Sveegaard, S. Teilmann, J. © 2016 Acoustical Society of America. Testing the hearing abilities of marine mammals under water is a challenging task. Sample sizes are usually low, thus limiting the ability to generalize findings of susceptibility towards noise influences. A method to measure harbor porpoise hearing thresholds in situ in outdoor conditions using auditory steady state responses of the brainstem was developed and tested. The method was used on 15 live-stranded animals from the North Sea during rehabilitation, shortly before release into the wild, and on 12 wild animals incidentally caught in pound nets in Denmark (inner Danish waters). Results indicated that although the variability between individuals is wide, the shape of the hearing curve is generally similar to previously published results from behavioral trials. Using 10-kHz frequency intervals between 10 and 160 kHz, best hearing was found between 120 and 130 kHz. Additional testing using one-third octave frequency intervals (from 16 to 160 kHz) allowed for a much faster hearing assessment, but eliminated the fine scale threshold characteristics. For further investigations, the method will be used to better understand the factors influencing sensitivity differences across individuals and to establish population-level parameters describing hearing abilities of harbor porpoises. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/13865 10.1121/1.4955306 Acoustical Society of America fulltext
spellingShingle Ruser, A.
Dähne, M.
Van Neer, A.
Lucke, Klaus
Sundermeyer, J.
Siebert, U.
Houser, D.
Finneran, J.
Everaarts, E.
Meerbeek, J.
Dietz, R.
Sveegaard, S.
Teilmann, J.
Assessing auditory evoked potentials of wild harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena)
title Assessing auditory evoked potentials of wild harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena)
title_full Assessing auditory evoked potentials of wild harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena)
title_fullStr Assessing auditory evoked potentials of wild harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena)
title_full_unstemmed Assessing auditory evoked potentials of wild harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena)
title_short Assessing auditory evoked potentials of wild harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena)
title_sort assessing auditory evoked potentials of wild harbor porpoises (phocoena phocoena)
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/13865