Sources of variability in auditory brainstem response thresholds in a mouse model of noise-induced hearing loss

Numerous and non-acoustic experimental factors can potentially influence experimental outcomes in animal models when measuring the effects of noise exposures. Subject-related factors, including species, strain, age, sex, body weight, and post-exposure measurement timepoints, influence the observed hearing deficits. Experimenter effects, such as experience with experimental techniques and animal handling, may also factor into reported thresholds. In this study, the influence of subject sex, body mass, age at noise exposure, and timepoint of post-exposure recording are reported from a large sample of CBA/CaJ mice. Auditory brainstem response (ABR) thresholds differed between noise-exposed and unexposed mice, although the differences varied across tone frequencies. Thresholds across age at noise exposures and measurement delays after exposure also differed for some timepoints. Higher body mass correlated with higher ABR thresholds for unexposed male and female mice, but not for noise-exposed mice. Together, these factors may contribute to differences in phenotypic outcomes observed across studies or even within a single laboratory.