Acoustic Noise of MRI Scans of the Internal Auditory Canal and Potential for Intracochlear Physiological Changes

TL;DR

This study measures the acoustic noise generated by 1.5 Tesla MRI scans of the auditory nerve and discusses potential physiological effects and diagnostic implications related to noise exposure.

Contribution

It provides in-situ measurements of MRI noise levels specific to auditory nerve assessments and explores their potential physiological and diagnostic impacts.

Findings

MRI noise levels can cause temporary threshold shifts

Noise levels measured support previous findings of auditory effects

Potential for noise-induced physiological changes in the cochlea

Abstract

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a widely used medical imaging technique to assess the health of the auditory (vestibulocochlear) nerve. A well known problem with MRI machines is that the acoustic noise they generate during a scan can cause auditory temporary threshold shifts (TTS) in humans. In addition, studies have shown that excessive noise in general can cause rapid physiological changes of constituents of the auditory within the cochlea. Here, we report in-situ measurements of the acoustic noise from a 1.5 Tesla MRI machine (GE Signa) during scans specific to auditory nerve assessment. The measured average and maximum noise levels corroborate earlier investigations where TTS occurred. We briefly discuss the potential for physiological changes to the intracochlear branches of the auditory nerve as well as iatrogenic misdiagnoses of intralabyrinthine and intracochlear schwannomas due to hypertrophe of the auditory nerve within the cochlea during MRI assessment.