Perception of infrasound: Difference between revisions

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==== 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.|author2=R. Heffner|title=Hearing in the elephant (Elephas maximus)|journal=Science|year=1980|volume=208|pages=518–520|doi=10.1126/science.7367876|pmid=7367876|issue=4443}}</ref> To determine auditory sensitivity thresholds, a certain frequency of sound is presented at various intensities to see at which intensity the stimulus ceases to evoke a response. The auditory sensitivity curve of this particular elephant began at 16&nbsp;Hz with a threshold of 65dB. A shallow slope decreased to the best response at 1&nbsp;kHz with a threshold of 8dB, followed by a steep threshold increase above 4&nbsp;kHz. According to the 60dB cut-off, the upper limit was 10.5&nbsp;kHz with absolutely no detectable response at 14&nbsp;kHz.<ref name="Heffner & Heffner 1980" /> The upper limit for humans is considered to be 18&nbsp;kHz. The upper and lower limits of elephant hearing are the lowest measured for any animals aside from the pigeon.<ref name="Heffner & Heffner 1980" /> By contrast, the average best frequency for animal hearing is 9.8&nbsp;kHz, the average upper limit is 55&nbsp;kHz.<ref name="Heffner & Heffner 1980" />

The ability to differentiate frequencies of two successive tones was also tested for this elephant using a similar conditioning paradigm. The elephant’s responses were somewhat erratic, which is typical for mammals in this test.<ref name="Heffner & Heffner 1980" /> Nevertheless, the ability to discriminate sounds was best at frequencies below 1&nbsp;kHz particularly at measurements of 500&nbsp;Hz and 250&nbsp;Hz.<ref name="Heffner & Heffner 1980" />

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== Further reading ==

*Cook, R.K. (1969) Atmospheric sound propagation. Atmospheric exploration by remote probes, Vol. 2, pp.&nbsp;633–669. Washington, D.C. Committee on Atmospheric Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council

*{{cite journal | last1 = Delius | first1 = JD, | last2 = Tarpy | first2 = RM (| year = 1974) | title = Stimulus control of heart rate by auditory frequency and auditory pattern in pigeons, ''| url = | journal = Journal Of The Experimental Analysis Of Behavior'' | volume = 21, 297-306| issue = | pages = 297–306 }}

*Griffin DR (1969) The physiology and geophysics of bird navigation. ''Q Rev Biol'' 44:255~76

*{{cite journal | last1 = Heffner, | first1 = H. and| last2 = Heffner, | first2 = R. (| year = 1980). | title = Hearing in the elephant (Elephas maximus). ''| url = | journal = Science'' | volume = 208, 518-520.| issue = | pages = 518–520 }}

*{{cite journal | last1 = Kreithen, | first1 = M. L., and| last2 = Quine, | first2 = D. B. (| year = 1979). | title = Infrasound detection by the homing pigeon: A behavioral audiogram. ''| url = | journal = Journal of Physiology A.'' | volume = 129, 1-4| issue = | pages = 1–4 }}

*{{cite journal | last1 = Langbauer, | first1 = W. R., | last2 = Payne, | first2 = K. B., | last3 = Charif, | first3 = R. A., | last4 = Rapaport, | first4 = L. and| last5 = Osborn, | first5 = F. (| year = 1991). | title = African elephants respond to distant playbacks of low-frequency conspecific calls. ''| url = | journal = J. Exp. Biol''. | volume = 157, | issue = | pages = 35–46. }}

*{{cite journal | last1 = Langbauer, | first1 = W. R., Jr, | last2 = Payne, | first2 = K. B., | last3 = Charif, | first3 = R. A. and| last4 = Thomas, | first4 = E. M. (| year = 1990). | title = Responses of captive African elephants to playback of low-frequency calls. ''| url = | journal = Can. J. Zool.'' | volume = 67, 2604-2607.| issue = | pages = 2604–2607 }}

*{{cite journal | last1 = Moss | first1 = R, | last2 = Lockie | first2 = I (| year = 1979) | title = Infrasonic components in the song of the Capercaillie Tetrao urogallus. ''| url = | journal = Ibis'' | volume = 121:95-97 | issue = | pages = 95–97 }}

*Payne, Katy. Silent Thunder: In the presence of Elephants. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998

*{{cite journal | last1 = Payne, | first1 = K. B., | last2 = Langbauer, | first2 = W. R., | last3 = Jr and| first3 = | last4 = Thomas, | first4 = E. M. (| year = 1986). | title = Infrasonic calls of the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). ''| url = | journal = Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol.'' | volume = 18, 297-301.| issue = | pages = 297–301 }}

*{{cite journal | last1 = Quine, | first1 = Douglas B. (| year = 1981) | title = Frequency shift discrimination: Can homing pigeons locate infrasounds by Doppler shifts? ''| url = | journal = Journal of Comparative Physiology A'' | volume = 141( | issue = | page = 2) }}

*{{cite journal | last1 = Schermuly, | first1 = L. and| last2 = Klinke | first2 = R. (| year = 1990). | title = Infrasound sensitive neurons in the pigeon cochlear ganglion. ''| url = | journal = Journal of Comparative Physiology A'', | volume = 166:355-363 | issue = | pages = 355–363 }}

*{{cite journal | last1 = Schermuly | first1 = L. and| R.last2 = Klinke | first2 = R. (| year = 1990) | title = Origin of infrasound sensitive neurones in the papilla basilaris of the pigeon: an HRP study, ''| url = | journal = Hearing Research'', | volume = 48: 69-78| issue = | pages = 69–78 }}

*{{cite journal | last1 = Theurich | first1 = M, | last2 = Langner | first2 = G, | last3 = Scheich | first3 = H (| year = 1984) | title = Infrasound re-sponses in the midbrain of the Guinea Fowl. ''| url = | journal = Neurosci Lett'' | volume = 49:81-86 | issue = | pages = 81–86 }}

*{{cite journal | last1 = Yeowart | first1 = NS, | last2 = Evans | first2 = MJ (| year = 1974) | title = Thresholds of audibility for very low-frequency pure tones. ''| url = | journal = J Acoust Soc Am'' | volume = 55:814-818 | issue = | pages = 814–818 }}

*{{cite journal | last1 = Yodlowski | first1 = ML, | last2 = Kreithen | first2 = ML, | last3 = Keeton | first3 = WT (| year = 1977) | title = Detection of atmospheric infrasound by pigeons. ''| url = | journal = Nature'' | volume = 265:725- 726| issue = | pages = 725–726 }}

[[Category:Animal communication]]