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Avian Sound Perception in Noise

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Book cover Animal Communication and Noise

Part of the book series: Animal Signals and Communication ((ANISIGCOM,volume 2))

Abstract

All environments are noisy, and auditory systems have evolved to cope with this noise. Indeed all sensory systems employ mechanisms that facilitate the separation of relevant signals from irrelevant noise. Interestingly, most of what we know about hearing comes from tests conducted in the near absolute quiet of an acoustic test booth. Because of their tractability in the laboratory, their complex vocal repertoires, and their elaborate acoustic communication systems, birds have proven valuable models for understanding the effects of noise on hearing and acoustic communication in part by bringing laboratory and field studies together. Noise can have at least four different kinds of effects occurring either alone or together. These four categories of effects are hearing damage and permanent threshold shift (PTS) from acoustic overexposure, temporary threshold shift (TTS) from acoustic overexposure, masking of acoustic communication signals (or other biologically relevant sounds), and a host of other physiological and behavioral responses including effects on attention. Here we consider masking as separate from these other effects of noise on hearing and acoustic communication. Furthermore, we take an ‘auditory-centric’ point of view and consider masking exclusively from the point of view of the listening bird. We review the behavioral and auditory strategies that birds use to maximize communication in a noisy environment and suggest an approach to assessing the risk posed by noise, whether natural or anthropogenic.

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Acknowledgments

The work cited in this chapter was partially supported by NIH grants to RJD. We thank Marjorie Leek and Sue Anne Zollinger for comments on earlier versions of this chapter.

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

    Robert J. Dooling & Sandra H. Blumenrath

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  1. Robert J. Dooling
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Correspondence to Robert J. Dooling .

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  1. Communication and Social Behaviour Group, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany

    Henrik Brumm

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Dooling, R.J., Blumenrath, S.H. (2013). Avian Sound Perception in Noise. In: Brumm, H. (eds) Animal Communication and Noise. Animal Signals and Communication, vol 2. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41494-7_8

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