A study on marine animals concluded that these underwater beings are vulnerable to hearing loss after noise exposure. Researchers observed that turtles are more prone to hearing loss than other animals.
Sea turtles rely on their sense of echolocation (underwater) for awareness of their surroundings. They navigate and detect nearby predators with the help of their sense of hearing. Some turtle species use echolocation (acoustic) for communication.
Past studies have proved that noise is harmful to many animals like squids, fishes, and whales. Noise has dangerous effects in both freshwater and saltwater environments. But it does not work significantly on reptiles.
These results provide the necessary evidence on marine animals' hearing loss. Researchers were surprised to find out the turtles' hearing loss with a relatively low-frequency sound.
Significant noise exposure leads to a (T)temporary (T)threshold (S)shift, which decreases an animal's hearing sensitivity because of the induced noise. If this doesn't stop, turtles would not be able to detect sounds of their surroundings, including the sounds they use for communication or warning of predators.
It will result in endangering the turtle species. Today, half of the turtle species are on the verge of extinction due to plastics, and sea pollution and noise pollution are now additional problems to consider as researchers work to save these animals.
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