{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]],"date-time":"2026-05-01T01:39:49Z","timestamp":1777599589844,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":59,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,27]],"date-time":"2025-10-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1761523200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000703","name":"Royal National Institute for Deaf People","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["RNID T8"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RNID T8"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000703","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Brain Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Breathing rate is affected by physical stressors such as temperature or hypercapnia and by psychosocial stressors such as noise or overcrowding. In behavioral tests for tinnitus, rodents are often presented with trains of startle pulses. We postulated that using these pulses at successively higher sound levels would produce a cumulative increase in stress. Here, we demonstrate a novel means of assessing that increase in stress. Methods: By placing pairs of reflective markers on the abdomen and using a motion tracking system, we were able to remotely measure respiratory movements. A series of 20 startle pulses were presented in sequence at seven increasing sound levels, and changes in respiratory rate were tested with the Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test and the Friedman Test. Results: Markers placed on 20 alert active mice showed evidence of sniffing behavior but no purely respiratory signal. By contrast, in all 18 guinea pigs, abdominal markers did track respiratory movements. The breathing rate in guinea pigs was similar to previous studies: (mean 104 \u00b1 13; range 86\u2013131 bpm). Presenting quiet startle pulses to guinea pigs caused a significant increase in breathing rate (by about 20%), even with pulses at 75\u201380 dB SPL. Increasing pulse sound levels in the range of 85\u2013105 dB SPL did not reliably produce any further increase in breathing rate. Conclusions: We propose that tracking abdominal movement may allow measurement of psychosocial stress in the guinea pig. Once an animal is startled, increasing the pulse sound level did not produce any further increase in stress levels.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/brainsci15111152","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,28]],"date-time":"2025-10-28T09:16:07Z","timestamp":1761642967000},"page":"1152","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Breathing Rate as a Marker for Noise-Induced Stress in Guinea Pigs"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6894-4903","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mark N.","family":"Wallace","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Hearing Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1960-9487","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Joel I.","family":"Berger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Human Brain Research Laboratory, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2573-7418","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Christian J.","family":"Sumner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Auditory Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG1 4FQ, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5893-4525","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alan R.","family":"Palmer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hearing Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7182-9209","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michael A.","family":"Akeroyd","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hearing Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1946-9610","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Peter A.","family":"McNaughton","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Wolfson Sensory, Pain and Regeneration Centre, King\u2019s College London, London WC2R 2LS, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2332","DOI":"10.1002\/lary.29691","article-title":"Evidence of Tinnitus Development Due to Stress: An Experimental Study in Rats","volume":"131","author":"Kim","year":"2021","journal-title":"Laryngoscope"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"873","DOI":"10.1002\/lary.31779","article-title":"Tinnitus Generation and Behavioral Changes Caused by Chronic Stress: A Behavioral and Brain Study in a Rat Model","volume":"135","author":"Kim","year":"2025","journal-title":"Laryngoscope"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100250","DOI":"10.1016\/j.lanepe.2021.100250","article-title":"Tinnitus prevalence in Europe: A multi-country cross-sectional population study","volume":"12","author":"Biswas","year":"2022","journal-title":"Lancet Reg. 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