Sound preferences in mice are sex-dependent

We investigated the impact of early exposure to sound and to silence on sound preferences later in life in mice. We exposed young mice during the critical periods to excerpts of music (first movement of Beethoven’s symphony no. 9), non-music sounds, or to silence. We tested the sound preference behavior a few weeks later. Music exposure affected mouse behavior in a sex- dependent manner: male mice largely preferred the environment to which they were exposed, while female mice showed a weak reduction in their seemingly inborn aversion to sound. The neural activity in auditory cortex was suppressed in exposed compared to naive mice, regardless of exposure type. Remarkably, a robust negative correlation was found between neural response and behavior in female, but not in male, mice.