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Development of hearing in the big brown bat

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Abstract

We studied the development of hearing in newborn pups of the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus. In the majority of pups, the opening of both outer auditory canals occurred on or before postnatal day (PND) 7, but in some, it extended to PND 11. Using repeated auditory brainstem response (ABR) recordings, we tracked the progressive development and maturation of auditory sensitivity in 22 E. fuscus pups every 3 days, from PND 10 to PND 31, with additional recordings in a subset of bats at 2 months, 3 months and 1 year of life. There was a profound increase in auditory sensitivity across development for frequencies between 4 and 100 kHz, with the largest threshold shifts occurring early in development between PND 10 and 19. Prior to PND 13–16 and when pups were still non-volant, most bats were unable to hear frequencies above 48 kHz; however, sensitivity to these higher ultrasonic frequencies increased with age. Notably, this change occurred near the age when young bats started learning how to fly and echolocate.

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Abbreviations

ABR:

Auditory brainstem response

PND:

Postnatal day

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Kathleen Delaney, Dr. Timothy Ryan, Ms. Dawn Graham, and the staff of the Psychology Animal Facility for veterinary and animal care support. We also thank lab members for help with catching bats and colony care. Research supported by an Operating Grant from the Institute of Neuroscience, Mental Health and Addiction of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and a Discovery Grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada awarded to PAF. The McMaster Bat Lab is also supported by infrastructure grants from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Innovation Trust.

Funding

This research was supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Grants RGPIN-2020-06906, RGPIN-2015-4879) and Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Grant 136823)

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  1. Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada

    Doreen Möckel, Thomas Groulx & Paul A. Faure

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  1. Doreen Möckel
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Correspondence to Paul A. Faure.

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All experimental procedures were approved by the Animal Research Ethics Board of McMaster University and conformed to the Guide to the Care and Use of Experimental Animals published by the Canadian Council on Animal Care.

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Möckel, D., Groulx, T. & Faure, P.A. Development of hearing in the big brown bat. J Comp Physiol A 207, 27–42 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-020-01452-4

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