Behavioural and functional assessment of mice inner ear after chronic exposure to an ultra-high static magnetic field of 11.7T or 17.2T.

High static magnetic (B0) fields are known to induce a transient disturbance of the inner ear. Recently a study demonstrated long-term behavioural effects in mice chronically exposed to a B0 field of 16.4T. In the current study, mice underwent chronic B0 exposure at 11.7T or 17.2T and longitudinally performed behavioural tests over the study. An auditory brainstem response (ABR) test was performed at the end of the full exposure period to assess inner ear properties. Despite the transient disturbance of mice inner ear observed immediately after B0 exposure, no short-term or long-term alteration was detected with behavioural or ABR tests.