Meriones unguiculatus (Gerbil) as an animal model for the ontogenetic cochlear implant research.

The rehabilitation of prelingually deafened children using cochlear implants still raises several basic problems, e.g. growth of the skull and maturation of the auditory system. Systematic research in these problems requires a reliable animal model. The gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) was investigated in respect of its suitability as an animal model for ontogenetic cochlear implant research. Gerbil pups were deafened by a single intracochlear application of neomycine on their 14th day after birth before the onset of natural hearing and implanted with an animal specific cochlea implant at day 30 after birth. To maintain the biological relevance the social sounds of gerbils were frequency transformed and used in daily electrostimulation until the 90th day after birth. As well established animal in hearing research the gerbil appears to be an appropriate animal model for ontogenetic cochlear implant research.