Anatomical effects of intense tone stimulation in the goldfish ear: Dependence on sound‐pressure level and frequency

The final results of an experimental investigation to study the extent of frequency regionalization in the ear of goldfish are presented. Goldfish about 6 in. in body length were subjected to intense tones at 250 and 500 Hz, and four different sound‐pressure levels. They were placed in a waveguide and constrained as close as possible to a pressure antinode so that the primary response of the inner ear was due to the induced motion of the swimbladder and Weberian ossicles. Both saccular and lagenar maculae were examined under a scanning electron microscope to determine the location and extent of hair cell damage as a function of frequency and sound‐pressure level. The results are not inconsistent with the gross frequency regionalization in the saccular macula of codfish determined by P. S. Enger [Hearing and Sound Communication in Fishes (Springer, New York, 1981), pp. 243–255]. In addition, the results indicate a possible breakdown of the Weberian apparatus at extremely high sound‐pressure levels where th...