RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Bats experience age-related hearing loss (presbycusis)
JF Life Science Alliance
JO Life Sci. Alliance
FD Life Science Alliance LLC
SP e202201847
DO 10.26508/lsa.202201847
VO 6
IS 6
A1 Yifat Chaya Tarnovsky
A1 Shahar Taiber
A1 Yomiran Nissan
A1 Arjan Boonman
A1 Yaniv Assaf
A1 Gerald S Wilkinson
A1 Karen B Avraham
A1 Yossi Yovel
YR 2023
UL https://www.life-science-alliance.org/content/6/6/e202201847.abstract
AB Hearing loss is a hallmark of aging, typically initially affecting the higher frequencies. In echolocating bats, the ability to discern high frequencies is essential. However, nothing is known about age-related hearing loss in bats, and they are often assumed to be immune to it. We tested the hearing of 47 wild Egyptian fruit bats by recording their auditory brainstem response and cochlear microphonics, and we also assessed the cochlear histology in four of these bats. We used the bats’ DNA methylation profile to evaluate their age and found that bats exhibit age-related hearing loss, with more prominent deterioration at the higher frequencies. The rate of the deterioration was ∼1 dB per year, comparable to the hearing loss observed in humans. Assessing the noise in the fruit bat roost revealed that these bats are exposed to continuous immense noise—mostly of social vocalizations—supporting the assumption that bats might be partially resistant to loud noise. Thus, in contrast to previous assumptions, our results suggest that bats constitute a model animal for the study of age-related hearing loss.