Protective effect of Sound conditioning on hearing system of rabbit

Trauma noise is one of the major physical pollutants in modern societies. Sound conditioning, on the other hand, is known as one of the mechanisms for protecting the hearing system. In this experimental study, 15 three month-old male white New Zealand rabbits were divided into three groups. The equipments used in this study included a sound generator, a loudspeaker, an exposure box, a sound level meter, and a distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) device. The rabbits were assigned to trauma noise exposure, conditioning noise exposure, and control groups. The conditioning and traumatic sound levels were respectively 80 and 105dB within the 500-3000 Hz frequency. Conditioning noise at the level of 80 in combination with trauma noise enhanced the rabbits hearing system tolerance up to 13-17 dB so that in all frequencies there were significant differences between the trauma noise exposure group and the sound conditioning and trauma noise conditioning group (P<0.05). Sound conditioning can act as an effective factor in protecting the hearing system against trauma noise.