• Volume/Page
  • Keyword
  • DOI
  • Citation
  • Advanced
   
 
 
 

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

BROWSE VOLUMES

Year Range: 
Search Issue | RSS Feeds RSS
Previous Issue

Jun 2004

Volume 115, Issue 6, pp. 2677-3253

Return to All Sections
back to top
RSS Feeds

Siamang gibbons exceed the saccular threshold: Intensity of the song of Hylobates syndactylus

Neil P. McAngus Todd and Bjorn Merker

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 115, Issue 6, pp. 3077-3080 (2004); (4 pages) | Cited 2 times

Online Publication Date: 03 Jun 2004

Full Text: Read Online (HTML) | Download PDF

Show Abstract
Measurements are reported of the intensity of the siamang gibbon loud call obtained from the vocal bouts of three family groups at Twycross Zoo, UK. Across 25 samples the maximum intensity ranged from 95 to 113 dB SPL (linear frequency-weighting and fast time-weighting) and exhibited three frequency modes of 250–315 Hz, 630–800 Hz and 1.2–1.6 kHz. The lowest frequency mode, which may correspond to the “boom” sound produced by resonance of the siamang inflated vocal sac, had a mean maximum intensity of 99 dB SPL. These values, which are in excess of the saccular acoustic threshold of about 90 dB at 300 Hz for air conducted sound, suggest that primate loud calls recruit a primitive mode of acoustic sensitivity furnished by the sacculus. Thus reproductive vocal behavior of primates may be influenced by a primitive acoustical reward pathway inherited from a common ancestor with anamniotes. In humans such a pathway could explain the compulsion for exposure to loud music. © 2004 Acoustical Society of America.
Show PACS
43.64.Bt Models and theories of the auditory system
43.64.Tk Physiology of sound generation and detection by animals
43.80.Ka Sound production by animals: mechanisms, characteristics, populations, biosonar

Similarity in loudness and distortion product otoacoustic emission input/output functions: Implications for an objective hearing aid adjustment

Jörg Müller and Thomas Janssen

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 115, Issue 6, pp. 3081-3091 (2004); (11 pages) | Cited 6 times

Online Publication Date: 03 Jun 2004

Full Text: Read Online (HTML) | Download PDF

Show Abstract
The aim of the present study was to compare distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) to loudness with regard to the potentiality of DPOAEs to determine characteristic quantities of the cochlear-impaired ear and to derive objective hearing aid parameters. Recently, Neely et al. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 114, 1499–1507 (2003)] compared DPOAE input/output functions to the Fletcher and Munson [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 5, 82–108 (1933)] loudness function finding a close resemblance in the slope characteristics of both measures. The present study extended their work by performing both loudness and DPOAE measurements in the same subject sample, and by developing a method for the estimation of gain needed to compensate for loss of cochlear sensitivity and compression. DPOAEs and loudness exhibited similar behavior when plotted on a logarithmic scale and slope increased with increasing hearing loss, confirming the findings of Neely et al. To compensate for undesired nonpathological impacts on the magnitude of DPOAE level, normalization of DPOAE data was implemented. A close resemblance between gain functions based on loudness and normalized DPOAE data was achieved. These findings suggest that DPOAEs are able to quantify the loss of cochlear sensitivity and compression and thus might provide parameters for a noncooperative hearing aid adjustment. © 2004 Acoustical Society of America.
Show PACS
43.64.Jb Otoacoustic emissions
43.64.Yp Instruments and methods
43.66.Cb Loudness, absolute threshold

Development of auditory sensitivity in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus)

Elizabeth F. Brittan-Powell and Robert J. Dooling

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 115, Issue 6, pp. 3092-3102 (2004); (11 pages) | Cited 3 times

Online Publication Date: 03 Jun 2004

Full Text: Read Online (HTML) | Download PDF

Show Abstract
Auditory feedback influences the development of vocalizations in songbirds and parrots; however, little is known about the development of hearing in these birds. The auditory brainstem response was used to track the development of auditory sensitivity in budgerigars from hatch to 6 weeks of age. Responses were first obtained from 1-week-old at high stimulation levels at frequencies at or below 2 kHz, showing that budgerigars do not hear well at hatch. Over the next week, thresholds improved markedly, and responses were obtained for almost all test frequencies throughout the range of hearing by 14 days. By 3 weeks posthatch, birds’ best sensitivity shifted from 2 to 2.86 kHz, and the shape of the auditory brainstem response (ABR) audiogram became similar to that of adult budgerigars. About a week before leaving the nest, ABR audiograms of young budgerigars are very similar to those of adult birds. These data complement what is known about vocal development in budgerigars and show that hearing is fully developed by the time that vocal learning begins. © 2004 Acoustical Society of America.
Show PACS
43.64.Ri Evoked responses to sounds
43.64.Tk Physiology of sound generation and detection by animals
Return to All Sections
Close

Home Publications Meetings Contact ASA Site Map Back to Top

Copyright © Acoustical Society of America

close