Does acoustic trauma occur in pointers due to firearm noise? A prospective study on 50 hunting dogs

This study investigates the possibility of acoustic trauma occurence in hunting dogs exposed to high noise with pure stimulant such as firearms. Ten puppies (Control Group-CG) were used to establish reference for Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response (BAER) and tympanometry records. BAER and tympanograms were collected from the 40 cases in active hunting group (Acoustic Trauma Group-ATG). The severities of trauma of which the cases were exposed to were determined by field study. While tympanometric pressure values of ATG cases were higher than that in CG, they were found to be in normal range (ATG left: 35,63 +/- 38,79/right: 34,00 +/- 38,25; CG left: -23,90 +/- 44,30/ right: -29,20 +/- 36,87 daPa). BAER records were saved using both click and tone burst stimuli. Records were taken at the frequencies of 0,5, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8-kHz with tone burst stimulus. Wave I latency values obtained with click stimulus were only found to be significant in right ear at 30 dB intensity. Wave V was observed to be the last disappearing and the most observed wave among the waves obtained with high frequency stimulus. Based on this study, it was concluded that dogs experience acoustic trauma due to firearm noise, as revealed by a substantial decline in amplitude values in BAER records obtained with click stimulus. It can be said that the use of products developed for dogs and raising awareness in hunters may also be beneficial to prevent harmful effects of acoustic trauma.