Preface
Previous volumes in the Springer Handbook of Auditory Research have
focused on mechanisms of hearing and sound processing using laboratory
experiments to study the detection capabilities of the auditory system and
neurophysiological experiments to study the underlying neural bases of
these capabilities. Although the series has included a number of chapters
dealing with various aspects of acoustic behavior, few, if any, chapters have
examined the concept of acoustic communication and the related issue of
how sound is used in a natural behavioral context.
At the same time, it is important to remember that the auditory system
has probably evolved for two reasons. Its earliest evolution is likely to have
involved detection and recognition of environmental signals that enabled
animals to obtain information about the nonbiological and biological components of their environment. Because sound detection and recognition
probably evolved in the aquatic environment, sound processing was highly
useful because visual senses (if they existed at all) have a very limited range
in the water. With sensitivity to sound, the earliest vertebrates could have
extended the range over which they could detect and recognize objects,
including potential predators or prey that might have made sounds as they
moved.
The second, and later, reason for further evolution of the auditory system
was certainly for communication. There is little doubt that the process of
acoustic communication has shaped some aspects of the evolution of
hearing, the ear, and central processing mechanisms, and that is one of the
major themes of this volume.
Analyses of acoustic communication and behavior in this volume are
based primarily on observations and experiments on animals in their
natural habitats, where social, ecological, and environmental factors all
influence sound detection and perception. All chapters in this volume share
as a common theme the neuroethological approach to acoustic communication. The neuroethological approach attempts to understand the underlying neural and hormonal bases of complex, species-typical behavior in
both an evolutionary and an ecological context. Thus, multiple levels of
ix
Previous volumes in the Springer Handbook of Auditory Research have
focused on mechanisms of hearing and sound processing using laboratory
experiments to study the detection capabilities of the auditory system and
neurophysiological experiments to study the underlying neural bases of
these capabilities. Although the series has included a number of chapters
dealing with various aspects of acoustic behavior, few, if any, chapters have
examined the concept of acoustic communication and the related issue of
how sound is used in a natural behavioral context.
At the same time, it is important to remember that the auditory system
has probably evolved for two reasons. Its earliest evolution is likely to have
involved detection and recognition of environmental signals that enabled
animals to obtain information about the nonbiological and biological components of their environment. Because sound detection and recognition
probably evolved in the aquatic environment, sound processing was highly
useful because visual senses (if they existed at all) have a very limited range
in the water. With sensitivity to sound, the earliest vertebrates could have
extended the range over which they could detect and recognize objects,
including potential predators or prey that might have made sounds as they
moved.
The second, and later, reason for further evolution of the auditory system
was certainly for communication. There is little doubt that the process of
acoustic communication has shaped some aspects of the evolution of
hearing, the ear, and central processing mechanisms, and that is one of the
major themes of this volume.
Analyses of acoustic communication and behavior in this volume are
based primarily on observations and experiments on animals in their
natural habitats, where social, ecological, and environmental factors all
influence sound detection and perception. All chapters in this volume share
as a common theme the neuroethological approach to acoustic communication. The neuroethological approach attempts to understand the underlying neural and hormonal bases of complex, species-typical behavior in
both an evolutionary and an ecological context. Thus, multiple levels of
ix