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{{Short description|Animal perception of low frequency sounds}}
'''[[Infrasound]]''' is
== Mammals ==
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=== Elephants ===
Elephants are the terrestrial animal in which the production of infrasonic calls was first noted by M. Krishnan,<ref name="Krishnan 1972">{{cite journal |last=Krishnan |first=M |title=An Ecological Survey of the Larger Mammals of Peninsular India |year=1972 |journal=The Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society |volume=69 |pages=26–54}}</ref> later discovered by Katy Payne.<ref>{{cite book |last=Payne |first=Katy |title=Silent Thunder: In the presence of Elephants |url=https://archive.org/details/silentthunderinp00payn |url-access=registration |year=1998 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |___location=New York|isbn=9780684801087 }}</ref>
==== Infrasound production and perception ====
Recordings and playback experiments support that elephants use the infrasonic components of their calls for communication. Infrasonic vocalizations have been recorded from captive elephants in many different situations. The structure of the calls varies greatly but most of them range in frequency from 14 to 24
Playback experiments using prerecorded elephant vocalizations show that elephants can perceive infrasound and how they respond to these stimuli. In playback experiments, certain behaviors that occur commonly after vocalizations are scored before and after a call is played. These behaviors include lifting and stiffening of ears, vocalization, walking or running towards the concealed speaker, clustering in a tight group, and remaining motionless ("freezing"), with occasional scanning movements of the head.<ref name="Langbauer et al 1990" />
The use of prerecorded playbacks and behavioral scoring also shows that the infrasonic elephant calls are behaviorally significant over long distances. The degree of response behaviors performed by an elephant group, such as lifting of ears, walking towards the speakers, “freezing”, or scanning movements, was compared visually before and after the presentation of a stimulus, scoring a trial as a positive response if the amount of behaviors is greater after the stimulus. In one particular experiment performed on elephants living in the wild, the presentation of playbacks for
There are some confounding factors that might influence the results of this kind of experiment. Firstly, the animals might actually be more sensitive than the experiments would indicate owing to [[habituation]] of the animals to the playback stimuli after several trial repetitions. To avoid this, researchers present several different types of playbacks in random order. Another problem that might arise in interpreting field experiments done on groups of animals is that animals may be responding to signals from other elephants in the group rather than the playback stimulus. However, an assumption is made that at least one animal in the group did perceive and respond directly to the stimulus.<ref name="Langbauer et al 1990" />
==== Infrasound sensitivity ====
The auditory sensitivity thresholds have been measured behaviorally for one individual young female Indian elephant. The [[Classical conditioning|conditioning]] test for sensitivity requires the elephant to respond to a stimulus by pressing a button with its trunk, which results in a sugar water reward if the elephant correctly identified the appropriate stimulus occurrence.<ref name="Heffner & Heffner 1980">{{cite journal |last=Heffner |first=H. |
The ability to differentiate frequencies of two successive tones was also tested for this elephant using a similar conditioning paradigm. The
Tests of the ability to localize sounds also showed the significance of low frequency sound perception in elephants. Localization was tested by observing the successful orienting towards the left or the right source loudspeakers when they were positioned at different angles from the elephant’s head. The elephant could localize sounds best at a frequency below 1kHz, with perfect identification of the left or right speaker at angles of 20 degrees or more, and chance level discriminations below 2 degrees<ref name="Heffner & Heffner 1980" />. Sound localization ability was measured to be best at 125Hz and 250Hz, intermediate at 500Hz, 1kHz, and 2kHz, and very poor at frequencies at 4kHz and above<ref name="Heffner & Heffner 1980" />. A possible reason for this is that elephants are very good at using [[interaural phase differences]] which are effective for localizing low frequency sounds, but not as good at using [[interaural intensity differences]] which are better for higher frequency sounds. Because of the elephant head size and the large distance between their ears, interaural difference cues become confused when wavelengths are shorter, explaining why sound localization was very poor at frequencies above 4kHz.<ref name="Heffner & Heffner 1980" /> It was observed that the elephant spread the pinna of its ears only during the sound localization tasks, however the precise effect of this behavior is unknown<ref name="Heffner & Heffner 1980" />.▼
▲Tests of the ability to localize sounds also showed the significance of low frequency sound perception in elephants. Localization was tested by observing the successful orienting towards the left or the right source loudspeakers when they were positioned at different angles from the
== Birds ==
Although birds do not produce vocalizations in the infrasonic range, reactions to infrasonic stimuli have been observed in several species, such as the [[homing pigeon]], the
=== Pigeons ===
Infrasound perception has been observed and quantified in the homing pigeon which has particularly good long distance navigation skills. The precise relevance of such signals for the pigeon is still unknown, but several uses for infrasound have been hypothesized, such as navigation and detection of air turbulences when flying and landing.<ref name="Kreithen & Quine 1979" /><ref>{{cite journal |last=Griffin |first=D. R. |title=The physiology and geophysics of bird navigation |journal=Q Rev Biol |year=1969 |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=
==== Infrasound sensitivity ====
In experiments
In order to use infrasound for navigation, it is necessary to be able to localize the source of the sounds. The known mechanisms for sound localizations make use of the time difference cues at the two ears. However, infrasound has such long wavelengths that these mechanisms would not be effective for an animal the size of a pigeon. An alternative method that has been hypothesized is through the use of the [[Doppler shift]].<ref name="Quine 1981" /> A Doppler shift occurs when there is relative motion between a sound source and a perceiver and slightly shifts the perceived frequency of the sound. When a flying bird is changing direction, the amplitude of the Doppler shift between it and an infrasonic source would change, enabling the bird to locate the source. This kind of mechanism would require the ability to detect very small changes in frequency. A pigeon typically flies at
In early experiments with infrasound sensitivity in pigeons, surgical removal of the
==== Infrasound
Neural fibers that are sensitive to infrasonic stimuli have been identified in the pigeon and their characteristics have been studied. It turns out that, although these fibers also originate in the inner ear, they are quite different from normal acoustic fibers.
Infrasound sensitive fibers have very high rates of spontaneous discharge, with a mean of
By injecting fibers that were identified to be sensitive to infrasound with HRP (Horseradish Peroxidase), the ___location and morphology of the stained fibers can be observed in sections under a microscope. Infrasound sensitive fibers are found to be simple bipolar cells in the [[auditory ganglion]] with a diameter of 1.6-2.2µm at the axon and 0.9-1.2µm at the dendrites<ref name="Schermuly 1990b">{{cite journal|last=Schermuly|first=L.|coauthors=R. Klinke|title=Origin of infrasound sensitive neurones in the papilla basilaris of the pigeon: an HRP study|journal=Hearing Research|year=1990|volume=48|pages=69-78}}</ref>. They originate in the apical end of the cochlea and they are located near fibers that transmit low frequency sounds in the acoustic range. Unlike the ordinary acoustic fibers which terminate on the neural limbus, the infrasonic ones terminate on cells on the free basilar membrane<ref name="Schermuly 1990b" />. Furthermore, infrasonic fibers terminate on 2-9 hair cells while normal acoustic fibers connect to only one<ref name="Schermuly 1990b" />. Such characteristics would make these fibers analogous to fibers connecting to the outer hair cells in mammals, except that mammalian outer hair cells are known to have efferent fibers only and no afferents<ref name="Schermuly 1990b" />. These observations suggest that the infrasound sensitive fibers are in a class separate from ordinary acoustic fibers.▼
▲By injecting fibers that were identified to be sensitive to infrasound with HRP (Horseradish Peroxidase), the ___location and morphology of the stained fibers can be observed in sections under a microscope. Infrasound sensitive fibers are found to be simple bipolar cells in the [[auditory ganglion]] with a diameter of {{nowrap|1.6
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== Further
*Cook, R.K. (1969) Atmospheric sound propagation.
*{{cite journal | last1 = Delius | first1 = JD
*Griffin DR (1969) The physiology and geophysics of bird navigation. ''Q Rev Biol'' 44:255~76
*{{cite journal | last1 = Heffner
*{{cite journal | last1 = Kreithen
*{{cite journal | last1 = Langbauer
*{{cite journal | last1 = Langbauer
*{{cite journal | last1 = Moss | first1 = R
*Payne, Katy. Silent Thunder: In the presence of Elephants. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998
*{{cite journal | last1 = Payne
*{{cite journal | last1 = Quine
*{{cite journal | last1 = Schermuly
*{{cite journal | last1 = Schermuly | first1 = L.
*{{cite journal | last1 = Theurich | first1 = M
*{{cite journal | last1 = Yeowart | first1 = NS
*{{cite journal | last1 = Yodlowski | first1 = ML
{{Ethology}}
[[Category:Animal communication]]
[[Category:Behavioral neuroscience]]
[[Category:Ethology]]
[[Category:Hearing]]
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