Development of cis-platinum-induced hearing loss in guinea pigs.

The resultant hearing loss can be variable if cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum is given to guinea pigs. In order to find out more about these differences, we used brainstem audiometry to study the start and development of hearing loss over time for several frequencies. Our results confirmed previous observations that hearing loss starts at the higher frequencies but can also occur at lower frequencies. Furthermore, there were great differences in the start and the rate of the increase of hearing loss found in the individual animals. The individual differences in susceptibility can not be explained by one factor alone, but by the combination of three factors, namely deviation point, slope and length of survival.