Singing whales generate high levels of particle motion: implications for acoustic communication and hearing?

ABSTRACT: Acoustic signals are fundamental to animal communication, and cetaceans are often considered bioacoustic specialists. Nearly all studies of their acoustic communication focus on sound pressure measurements, overlooking the particle motion components of their communication signals. Here we characterized the levels of acoustic particle velocity (and pressure) of song produced by humpback whales. We demonstrate that whales generate acoustic fields that include significant particle velocity components that are detectable over relatively long distances sufficient to play a role in acoustic communication. We show that these signals attenuate predictably in a manner similar to pressure and that direct particle velocity measurements can provide bearings to singing whales. Whales could potentially

SUBMITTER: Mooney TA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5134030 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature