PERIPHERAL BASIS FOR THE AUDITORY DEFICIT IN BELGIAN WATERSLAGER CANARIES (SERINUS-CANARIUS)

Recently, behavioural thresholds obtained in canaries of the Belgian W aterslager strain showed that these birds have an inherited auditory d eficit. Canaries of this strain have absolute auditory thresholds at f requencies above 2.0 kHz that are as much as 40 dB above the threshold of canaries of other strains. We obtained audiograms from cochlear mi crophonics and from compound action potentials from the 8th nerve of W aterslager and non-Waterslager canaries and compare these results to p revious behavioural data on hearing in this species. We also examined the growth of evoked potential amplitude-intensity functions in Waters lager and non-Waterslager canaries. Together with reflectance measurem ents of middle-ear function from both Waterslager and non-Waterslager canaries, we conclude that the origin of the auditory deficit in Water slager canaries lies in the cochlea.