Sociality predicts enhanced auditory thresholds and binaural hearing processing across rodent species

Sociality has evolved repeatedly in rodents, yet whether sociality has shaped auditory processing remains unclear. Here, we used auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) to examine the relationship between sociality and auditory processing in nine wild-caught rodent species that are not closely related evolutionarily. Phylogenetic comparative analyses revealed that sociality is correlated with enhanced auditory processing: group-living and monogamous species generally exhibited lower auditory thresholds for tone and click stimuli than solitary species.

Group-living species also showed higher relative amplitudes of the binaural interaction component (BIC) across tested interaural time differences (ITDs) than solitary species. In contrast, BIC normalized latencies did not differ among social groups across tested ITDs. We also found no evidence of differences among social groups in monaural ABR interpeak latencies or amplitude ratios of ABR waves I and IV with increasing sound intensities.

Together, these findings indicate that sociality is associated with heightened auditory sensitivity in rodents and suggest that the evolution of complex social behavior may have favored enhanced auditory systems that facilitate effective social communication. We thank the personnels of the Packsaddle, James Collins, and Sandy Sanders wildlife management areas, Sheena Parsons, Benny Farrar, Marie Stone, and Marcus Thibodeau for housing and permission to collect rodents in our seven sampling locations. We also thank all undergraduates on team wild rodent of the McCullagh lab for helping in trapping.

Joseph for helping in the DNA analysis and creating the sampling map. Ben-Zheng Li for developing the custom ABR software and analysis program. No sources of fundings were associated with this work.

Department of Biology, Oklahoma State University (OSU), College of Arts and Sciences, Stillwater, OK, USA Luberson Joseph, Fabio A. McCullagh Department of Biological Sciences and University Hospitals, NEOMED Hearing Research Center, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, OH, USA Correspondence to Elizabeth A. The authors declare no competing interests.

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