Phase shifts in binaural stimuli provide directional cues for sound localisation in the field cricket Gryllus bimaculatus.

ABSTRACT: The cricket's auditory system is a highly directional pressure difference receiver whose function is hypothesised to depend on phase relationships between the sound waves propagating through the auditory trachea that connects the left and right hearing organs. We tested this hypothesis by measuring the effect of experimentally constructed phase shifts in acoustic stimuli on phonotactic behavior of Gryllus bimaculatus, the oscillatory response patterns of the tympanic membrane, and the activity of the auditory afferents. The same artificial calling song was played simultaneously at the left and right sides of the cricket, but one sound pattern was shifted in phase by 90 deg (carrier frequencies between 3.6 and 5.4 kHz). All three levels of auditory processing are sensitive to experimentally

SUBMITTER: Seagraves KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4081008 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature