简介：Noisepollutionisamajorhazardousfactortohumanhealthandislikelyharmfulforvulnerablegroupssuchaspre-terminfantsunderlifesupportsysteminanintensivecareunit.Previousstudieshavesuggestedthatnoiseexposureimpairschildren’slearningabilityandcognitiveperformanceandcognitivefunctionsinanimalmodelsinwhichtheeffectismainlyattributedtotheoxidantstressofnoiseonthecognitivebrain.Thepotentialroleofnoiseinducedhearingloss(NIHL),ratherthantheoxidantstress,hasalsobeenindicatedbyadepressionofneurogenesisinthehippocampuslongafterabriefnoiseexposure,whichproducesonlyatentativeoxidantstress.ItisnotclearifnoiseexposureandNIHLduringearlydevelopmentexertsalongtermimpactoncognitivefunctionandneurogenesistowardsadulthood.Inthepresentstudy,abriefnoiseexposureathighsoundlevelwasperformedinneonatalC57BL/6Jmice(15daysafterbirth)toproduceasignificantamountofpermanenthearinglossasproved2monthsafterthenoise.Atthisage,thenoise-exposedanimalsshoweddeterioratedspatiallearningandmemoryabilitiesandareductionofhippocampalneurogenesisascomparedwiththecontrol.Theaveragedhearingthresholdwasfoundtobestronglycorrelatedwiththescoresforspatiallearningandmemory.Weconsidertheeffectsobservedarelargelyduetothelossofhearingsensitivity,ratherthantheoxidantstress,duetothelongintervalbetweennoiseexposureandtheobservations.