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Sound Localization in Birds

  • Chapter
Comparative Hearing: Birds and Reptiles

Part of the book series: Springer Handbook of Auditory Research ((SHAR,volume 13))

Abstract

Without the ability to localize a sound, a bird’s auditory world would be a cacophony of environmental sounds and vocalizations. When we can identify the location of a sound source, we can form auditory objects that help us to discern separate items in our environment (Bregman 1990). Given the parallels in the processing of auditory information in birds and mammals (e.g., humans), it can be assumed that this benefit of auditory localization will also accrue to birds. When a bird listens to the contact calls of members of its flock at a distance, for example, its directional hearing will help it to keep in touch with them. Through the mechanisms of sound localization it may be able to form auditory objects and thus could more easily separate its flock mates’ calls from the acoustic background produced by other sources. A simple variation in the auditory sensitivity with direction may help the bird to increase the signal-to-noise ratio through a mechanism called “spatial release from masking” (Dent et al. 1997). When orienting its head in a way that it is more sensitive to the contact calls coming from one direction and less sensitive to the background noise arriving from other directions, a bird can considerably improve its signal detection.

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Authors
  1. Georg M. Klump
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Robert J. Dooling

  2. Parmly Hearing Institute and Department of Psychology, Loyola University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60626, USA

    Richard R. Fay

  3. Department of Biology and Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Arthur N. Popper

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Klump, G.M. (2000). Sound Localization in Birds. In: Dooling, R.J., Fay, R.R., Popper, A.N. (eds) Comparative Hearing: Birds and Reptiles. Springer Handbook of Auditory Research, vol 13. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-1182-2_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-1182-2_6

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