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Analysis of Natural Scenes by Echolocation in Bats and Dolphins

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Biosonar

Part of the book series: Springer Handbook of Auditory Research ((SHAR,volume 51))

Abstract

Echolocation research has carefully detailed the acoustic cues used by bats and dolphins to localize and discriminate sonar targets; however, there remains an incomplete understanding of the larger problem of auditory scene analysis, namely how echo features from the natural environment are perceptually organized in the animal’s sonar receiver. This chapter reviews research that contributes to our understanding of auditory scene analysis by echolocating bats and dolphins. A review of psychophysical studies of sonar perception brings to light the limitations of understanding auditory scene analysis by echolocation when animals are constrained to a limited repertoire of emitted signals, and listening to a mix of simulated and real echoes that can compromise the perceptual salience of the experimental setting. Adaptive sonar behaviors are an integral component of echolocation systems that would be expected to feed into auditory scene analysis processes, and studies of the echolocating animal’s control over the signals it uses to probe the environment can shed light on sonar scene perception. However, adaptive sonar studies do not provide a direct measure of the animal’s perception of a complex, natural environment. Instead, auditory perception can be inferred only from the animal’s adaptive motor behaviors. Future research on auditory scene analysis by echolocation must embrace the challenge of marrying the advantages of psychophysical and adaptive motor studies, taking creative new approaches to tap into an animal’s perception of its complex, 3D auditory world, while allowing it to engage in its natural behaviors.

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Acknowledgments

National Science Foundation, National Institute of Mental Health, and National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders provided support for some of the bat echolocation research summarized in this review. Portions of the dolphin research reported here were funded by Office of Naval Research and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Annemarie Surlykke, Kaushik Ghose, and Ben Falk contributed to the data collection, analysis, and interpretation of several laboratory studies of adaptive echolocation behavior in big brown bats, summarized here. We thank Janna Barcelo and Wei Xian for proofreading the manuscript and Wei Xian for assistance with the figures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA

    Cynthia F. Moss & Chen Chiu

  2. National Marine Mammal Foundation, San Diego, CA, 92106, USA

    Patrick W. Moore

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  1. Cynthia F. Moss
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  2. Chen Chiu
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  3. Patrick W. Moore
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Correspondence to Cynthia F. Moss .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

    Annemarie Surlykke

  2. Marine Mammal Research Program, University of Hawaii Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, Kailua, Hawaii, USA

    Paul E. Nachtigall

  3. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

    Richard R. Fay

  4. Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA

    Arthur N. Popper

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Moss, C.F., Chiu, C., Moore, P.W. (2014). Analysis of Natural Scenes by Echolocation in Bats and Dolphins. In: Surlykke, A., Nachtigall, P., Fay, R., Popper, A. (eds) Biosonar. Springer Handbook of Auditory Research, vol 51. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9146-0_8

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