{"id":109248,"date":"2025-02-24T14:57:45","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T14:57:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/?post_type=news&p=109248"},"modified":"2025-04-28T19:10:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T19:10:30","slug":"chronic-stress-affects-the-way-mice-perceive-loudness","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/chronic-stress-affects-the-way-mice-perceive-loudness\/","title":{"rendered":"Chronic stress affects the way mice perceive loudness"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘Prolonged stress \u2026 can subtly alter how we perceive the world around us.’<\/p>\n

While stress is an unfortunate fact of modern life, scientists are still learning how it affects us. Chronic stress, in particular, has been linked with\u00a0many<\/a>\u00a0negative health outcomes\u2014and a\u00a0new study<\/a>\u00a0published February 11 in\u00a0PLOS Biology<\/em>\u00a0finds that in mice, at least, it can also affect the way in which the brain processes sound.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s work investigated the effect of chronic stress on mice\u2019s perception of sounds as being loud or quiet. The paper describes how two groups of mice were subjected to a number of noises, some loud and some soft. The mice were taught to choose one source of water in response to the quiet noises, and an alternative source in response to loud noises. Some mice were then placed in a state of chronic stress by repeated exposure to a mildly stressful situation (in this case, being restrained for half an hour).<\/p>\n

Both groups then played a variety of noises. For very loud and very quiet noises, the responses of the stressed and non-stressed mice were largely identical. However, as study co-author Jennifer Resnik explains to\u00a0Popular Science<\/em>, the mice experiencing chronic stress appeared to become less sensitive to a range of \u201cmid-level\u201d sounds between about 50dB and 70dB, reporting these sounds as \u201cquiet\u201d more often than their non-stressed peers. (A level of 50dB is\u00a0roughly equivalent<\/a>\u00a0to quiet conversation or rainfall, while 70dB is comparable to a vacuum cleaner operating in the same room.)<\/p>\n

\"\"
Physiological and behavioral evidence of stress. Left: Schematics of two-photon imaging during baseline and repetitive stress conditions. In repetitive stress sessions, the mice were placed in a 50 ml tube for 30 min to achieve mild stress. The imaging session started directly after the restraint. Individual cells were tracked over imaging days. Shown are examples of 2 imaging planes on day 1 and day 9 (scale bar, 50 \u03bcm) and the noise-evoked responses of 3 exemplar cells (mean \u00b1 SE).\u00a0Credit: Bisharat G et al., 2025, PLOS Biology, CC-BY 4.0\u00a0<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So does the stress affect the mice\u2019s actual ability to hear? Or does it change the way in which their brains process the signals sent to it from their ears? Resnik explains that the answer seems to be the latter: while stress does not change the actual signal sent to a mouse\u2019s brain by its ears in response to a given noise, it does seem to change how the animal perceives that noise.<\/p>\n

Resnik says that this effect is caused by the fact that stress induces an increased level of \u201cbackground noise\u201d within the brain. In the stressed mice, she explains, \u201cwe observed an increase in baseline (spontaneous) activity in excitatory cells in the auditory cortex.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a brain without this increased baseline activity, a signal from the ears is relatively strong; in a stressed brain, however, there\u2019s less of a difference between the level of the signal and the ambient level of neural activity. The result, Resnik says, \u201c[is that] the brain becomes less sensitive to mid-level sounds. You can think of it this way: when you\u2019re under chronic stress, your kids might need to speak louder to get your attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

Very loud noises, however, appear to be able to break through this barrier: \u201cResponses to high sound levels appear to be preserved,\u201d says Resnik. \u201cNo matter what, the brain still reacts when a sound is loud enough. So if your kids shout, you\u2019ll hear them just as clearly, regardless of stress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond its loudness, the actual nature of a noise doesn\u2019t appear to matter: Resnick says that \u201cchronic stress alters auditory processing in a way that primarily affects sensitivity to sound intensity, rather than \u2026 particular frequencies or sound types.\u201d So the effect is the same whether it\u2019s your kids speaking, the doorbell ringing or the bass frequencies from a passing car\u2019s stereo. All that matters is how loud the noise is.<\/p>\n

Resnik says that the implications of this work could reshape our understanding of how stress affects us: \u201cWe often think of chronic stress as primarily influencing complex cognitive functions like decision-making and learning. However, our findings show that it also affects much more fundamental processes, such as the perception of sound. This raises an intriguing question: How much of our daily experience is shaped by chronic stress in ways we don\u2019t even realize?\u201d<\/p>\n

There are also many other questions raised by the study\u2019s findings. Resnik says that one particularly important subject of research is developing a better understanding of how long the effects of chronic stress can linger after the actual source of stress has been removed. The mice in this study, for instance, were not studied while actively stressed, but the stress they had experienced nevertheless had a material effect on their hearing. With regard to this particular effect, she says, \u201cOur current findings suggest that it persists for several days.\u201d However, she says, \u201cWe are now conducting further experiments to determine whether these changes have longer-term consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, the way in which such effects take hold also remain the topic of ongoing research. \u201cA single exposure to stress had little impact, but as stress became chronic, we observed increasingly pronounced changes in auditory cortex activity.\u201d Does the effect continue to intensify as levels of stress increase? Resnik says this remains an open question.<\/p>\n

Either way, Resnik says, the creeping way in which the effects of stress take hold suggests its effects can be as subtle as they are pernicious. \u201cThis gradual progression has important implications for daily life,\u201d she says. \u201cIt suggests that prolonged stress doesn\u2019t just affect how we feel\u2014it can subtly alter how we perceive the world around us.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about stress-related issues, go to stress.org.<\/a><\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

By\u00a0<\/span>Tom Hawking<\/a> for Popular Science<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo by \u041e\u043b\u044c\u0433\u0430 \u0410<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘Prolonged stress \u2026 can subtly alter how we perceive the world around us.’ While stress is an unfortunate fact of modern life, scientists are still learning how it affects us. 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