Acoustic communication

The sounds used by a vertebrate animal species to communicate reflect features of its physical habitat, social organization, evolutionary history, and physiology. Understanding how individuals of the same species distinguish and evaluate communicative sounds in a complex auditory environment requires an account of the ecological context in which they occur. Past studies of vertebrate auditory signals have been done in the laboratory, emphasizing responses to simplified stimuli under well-defined parameters. While this approach yields data on the psychophysical limits of hearing, it does not directly address interactions between individuals that are the basis of communication. The contributors to this volume take a fresh neuro-ethological approach to the study of acoustic behavior, examining the response of hormones and the nervous system to a complex environment of sounds and how specific adaptations give rise to patterns of auditory communication. The authors attempt to derive common principles from a variety of vertebrate species. Contents: perspectives and progress in animal acoustic communication Andrea Megela Simmons. The physical acoustics of underwater sound communication Andrew H. Bass and Christopher W. Clark. Unpacking "honesty": vertebrate vocal production and the evolution of acoustic signals W. Tecumseh fitch and Marc D. Mauser. Social sounds: vocal learning and development of mammal and bird Calls Janette Wenrick Boughman and Cynthia F. Moss. Selection on long distance acoustic signals Michael J. Ryan and Nicole M. Kime. Hormonal mechanisms of acoustic communication Ayako Yamaguchi and Darcy B. Kelley. The neuroethology of vocal communication: perception and cognition Timothy Q. Gentner and Daniel Margoliash.