Is vulnerability to age-related hearing loss also a predisposition to noise-induced hearing loss?

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TSP2018Finck.pdf (1.2 MB)

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http://library.towson.edu/digital/collection/etd/id/66938

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Towson University Graduate Theses and Dissertations

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2019-02-22

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theses
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Towson University. Department of Audiology, Speech-Language Pathology and Deaf Studies

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Abstract

The connections between Age-Related Hearing Loss (ARHL), Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL), and genetics remain unknown. Age-Related Hearing Loss and Noise-Induced Hearing Loss are both complex, multifactorial disorders with varied causes. Several studies have connected genetic ARHL with increased threshold shifts following a noise exposure. The aim of the study was to investigate whether heterozygous Gfi1Cre/+ mice, which show an early onset ARHL, would have greater threshold shifts as compared to their wild type littermates following a noise exposure. Our results revealed that mice that were heterozygous for the Gfi1 gene did not show increased threshold shifts as compared to their wild type littermates when exposed to loud noises. The lack of hearing threshold shifts in the Gfi1 heterozygous mice is not similar to the pattern seen with other studies that look at effects of noise exposure on mice with a genetic predisposition to ARHL due to mutations in genes other than Gfi1. This could be attributed to differences in methodology or limitations to this study. Further investigation into the Gfi1 gene and the possible connection between ARHL and NIHL is needed.