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Updated: Jul 24, 2025

A Low Cost Setup for Behavioral Audiometry in Rodents
Published on: October 16, 2012
Infrasound tones at sensation threshold level elicit measurable Frequency-Following responses
Carlos Jurado1, Marcelo Larrea1, Juan Vizuete1
1Universidad de Las Américas, Avenue Granados and Colimes, EC170125, Ecuador.
Abstract:
Even barely detectable levels of infrasound are often reported to cause annoyance and complaints. We carefully measured the individual sensation threshold of a pure tone and recorded immediately after the brain's frequency-following response (FFR) at this intensity using the same stimulator. In contrast to 87-Hz tones, 8-Hz tones elicit an FFR already at sensation threshold. Control stimuli with trains of 1-kHz tone pips having the repetition rate of the infrasound tone frequency and sensation threshold intensities evoked no significant FFR. Thus, slow periodicity, causing synchronous activation of auditory nuclei, is not explaining the FFR to low-level infrasound alone.
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