In this project, Professor Laura Hurley at Indiana University, USA, investigates whether the effects of noise-induced hearing loss and social isolation impacts how serotonin – a chemical messenger – affects the hearing brain.
Project start date: June 2022
Project end date: June 2025
Read about the project outcomes here.
About the project
Serotonin helps to regulate social behaviour and cognition, and how the brain processes and perceives sound. Social isolation and hearing loss have separately been shown to reduce the response of the hearing brain to serotonin.
This project aims to help us better understand how social isolation and hearing loss interact with one another, and their combined effect on how serotonin regulates the hearing brain and sound perception.
How it works
Dr Laura Hurley will use a mouse model of hearing loss similar to progressive hearing loss in people. She will study how social isolation, hearing loss, and the combination of the two influence the activity of neurons that produce serotonin during a social interaction, and how hearing loss and isolation alter the connections between these neurons and the auditory brain.
Dr Amanda Lauer at Johns Hopkins University will measure the combined effects of social isolation and hearing loss on anxiety-like behaviours in mice. The aim is to understand if there are enhanced effects on the social regulation of sound processing and behaviour when the mice are both isolated and have hearing loss.
How does this research benefit people at risk of hearing loss?
The results from this study will lead to the development of a model of how serotonin is involved in the communication and emotional problems that are linked to hearing loss and social isolation. This model would be useful in developing treatments for these conditions that target serotonin activity in the hearing brain.
What we’ve learned so far
The researchers found for the first time that noise exposure alters the activity of the neurons that produce serotonin during a social interaction. Further, noise exposure and social isolation interact to influence the activity of these neurons to a social partner.
These findings show that serotonin signalling in aging mice is sensitive to the combination of hearing loss and social isolation, differently from younger mice. This study provides a basis for further exploring whether the effects of hearing loss and isolation could be reversed with socialization or with treatment by drugs that target serotonin signalling.
About the researcher
Professor Laura Hurley leads a research group in the Department of Biology at Indiana University Bloomington, USA. She was awarded an RNID Discovery Research Grant for this project in 2022.
Our team consists of collaborators like Dr. Amanda Lauer at Johns Hopkins University who has pioneered research in anxiety-like behavior following hearing loss in mouse models. Colleagues also include research associates, graduate students, and undergraduate interns. Participants at every level will contribute to accomplishing the goals of the project, and intellectual exchange within this group will sharpen the science.”
