Abstract
Human development of the marine environment raises questions regarding the potential adverse effects of anthropogenic noise on marine mammals. For species that live in remote Arctic regions, recent and expanding human intrusions may pose a particular threat. Northern seals are poorly studied relative to their temperate counterparts and little is known of their acoustic ecology or behavior. Given this scarcity of relevant data, studies of hearing in Arctic seals are essential to characterize their auditory capabilities and to inform management decisions. This paper describes ongoing psychoacoustic studies that are examining aspects of hearing in two ice seal species.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Fletcher H (1940) Auditory patterns. Rev Mod Phys 12:47–65
Heffner HE (1983) Hearing in large and small dogs: absolute thresholds and size of the tympanic membrane. Behav Neurosci 97:310–318
Heffner RS, Heffner HE (1985) Hearing range of the domestic cat. Hear Res 19:85–88
Huntington HP (2009) A preliminary assessment of threats to arctic marine mammals and their conservation in the coming decades. Mar Policy 33:77–82
Kastak D, Schusterman RJ (1998) Low-frequency amphibious hearing in pinnipeds: methods, measurements, noise, and ecology. J Acoust Soc Am 103:2216–2228
Kastelein RA, Wensveen PJ, Hoek L, Verboom WC, Terhune JM (2009) Underwater detection of tonal signals between 0.125 and 100 kHz by harbor seals (Phoca vitulina). J Acoust Soc Am 125:1222–1229
Kelly JB, Kavanagh GL, Dalton JCH (1986) Hearing in the ferret (Mustela putorius): thresholds for pure tone detection. Hear Res 24:269–275
Møhl B (1968) Auditory sensitivity of the common seal in air and water. J Aud Res 8:27–38
Moore SE, Reeves RR, Southall BL, Ragen TJ, Suydam RS, Clark CW (2012) A new framework for assessing the effects of anthropogenic sound on marine mammals in a rapidly changing Arctic. BioScience 62:289–295
Nummela S, Thewissen JGM (2008) The physics of sound in air and water. In: Thewissen JGM, Nummela S (eds) Sensory evolution on the threshold: adaptations in secondarily aquatic vertebrates. University of California Press, Berkeley
Reichmuth C, Holt MM, Mulsow J, Sills JM, Southall BL (2013) Comparative assessment of amphibious hearing in pinnipeds. J Comp Physiol A 199:491–507
Scharf B (1970) Critical bands. In: Tobias JV (ed) Foundations of modern auditory theory, vol 1. Academic, New York
Sills JM, Southall BL, Reichmuth C (2014) Amphibious hearing in spotted seals (Phoca largha): underwater audiograms, aerial audiograms, and critical ratio measurements. J Exp Biol 217:726–734
Southall BL, Schusterman RJ, Kastak D (2000) Masking in three pinnipeds: underwater, low-frequency critical ratios. J Acoust Soc Am 108:1322–1326
Southall BL, Schusterman RJ, Kastak D, Reichmuth Kastak C (2005) Reliability of underwater hearing thresholds. Acoust Res Lett Online 6:243–249
Terhune JM (1988) Detection thresholds of a harbour seal to repeated underwater high-frequency, short-duration sinusoidal pulses. Can J Zool 66:1578–1582
Terhune JM (1991) Masked and unmasked pure tone detection thresholds of a harbour seal listening in air. Can J Zool 69:2059–2066
Terhune JM, Ronald K (1971) The harp seal, Pagophilus groenlandicus (Erxleben, 1777). X. The air audiogram. Can J Zool 49:385–390
Terhune JM, Ronald K (1972) The harp seal, Pagophilus groenlandicus (Erxleben, 1777). III. The underwater audiogram. Can J Zool 50:565–569
Terhune JM, Ronald K (1975a) Underwater hearing sensitivity of two ringed seals (Pusa hispida). Can J Zool 53:227–231
Terhune JM, Ronald K (1975b) Masked hearing thresholds of ringed seals. J Acoust Soc Am 58:515–516
Wolski LF, Anderson RC, Bowles AE, Yochem PK (2003) Measuring hearing in the harbor seal (Phoca vitulina): comparison of behavioral and auditory brainstem response techniques. J Acoust Soc Am 113:629–637
Acknowledgments
This work was conducted with the permission of the National Marine Fisheries Service (Research Permit 14535), the Ice Seal Committee, and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at the University of California, Santa Cruz. This research was funded by the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers through the Exploration and Production (E&P) Sound and Marine Life Joint Industry Programme (Award 22-07-23). We thank the Alaska SeaLife Center, Seward, AK, and SeaWorld San Diego for their support of this effort, James Finneran for use of the HTP software, and the entire research team at the Pinniped Cognition and Sensory Systems Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Cruz for making this project possible.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this paper
Cite this paper
Sills, J.M., Southall, B.L., Reichmuth, C. (2016). Psychoacoustic Studies of Spotted (Phoca largha) and Ringed (Pusa hispida) Seals. In: Popper, A., Hawkins, A. (eds) The Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life II. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 875. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2981-8_127
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2981-8_127
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-2980-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-2981-8
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)