Influence of different envelope maskers on signal recognition and neuronal representation in the auditory system of a grasshopper.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Animals that communicate by sound face the problem that the signals arriving at the receiver often are degraded and masked by noise. Frequency filters in the receiver's auditory system may improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by excluding parts of the spectrum which are not occupied by the species-specific signals. This solution, however, is hardly amenable to species that produce broad band signals or have ears with broad frequency tuning. In mammals auditory filters exist that work in the temporal domain of amplitude modulations (AM). Do insects also use this type of filtering?

Principal findings

Combining behavioural and neurophysiological experiments we investigated whether AM filters may improve the recognition of masked communication signals in grasshoppe

SUBMITTER: Neuhofer D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3316687 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature