Emma Bowen
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Research Mentor(s): William King
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Otolaryngology / Medicine
Program: UROPF
Session: Session 6 (3:40pm – 4:30pm)
Authors: W. M. King, Mamiko Niwa, Emma Bowen
Abstract
The purpose of my project is to determine whether excessive noise exposure impacts the functionality of the vestibular system. Our method is to measure rats’ head movement relative to a rotating plate both before and after noise exposure. By equipping rats with a head sensor and fixing their body in a harness on the plate, we are able to analyze whether there is any significant difference in rats’ ability to adjust their head position after loud noise exposure. A few observations, in simple terms, are that rats post-noise exposure tended to overshoot in the direction of the rotating plate and exhibited more excessive head movement when the plate was stationary.
