[Frequency discrimination by the bottle-nosed dolphin and the Northern fur seal depending on sound parameters and sound conduction pathways].
Underwater differential frequency hearing thresholds in the Black Sea bottle-nosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus p.) and the northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus) were measured depending on signal frequency and sound conduction pathways. The measurements were performed by the method of instrumental conditioned reflexes with food reinforcement under conditions of full and partial (with heads out of water at sound conduction through body tissues) submergence of animals into water. It was shown that in a frequency range of 5-100 kHz, underwater differential frequency hearing thresholds of the bottle-nosed dolphin changed from 0.46-0.60% to 0.21-0.34% and depended little on sound conduction pathways. The minimum underwater differential frequency hearing thresholds of the northern fur seal corresponded to the frequencies of maximum hearing sensitivity, changed from 1.7% to 1-2.3% in a frequency range of 1-20 kHz, sharply increased at the edges of the frequency hearing perception range, and depended little (in a range of 5-40 kHz) on sound conduction pathways. Thus, underwater sounds propagating through the body tissues of dolphin and fur seal reach the inner ear.
Babushkina
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ES
Karadag Natural Preserve, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, ul. Nauki 24, Feodosia, Kurortnoe, Crimea, 98188 Ukraine.
Poliakov
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MA
D000818:Animals; D001306:Auditory Pathways; D001307:Auditory Perception; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D004289:Dolphins / Q000502:physiology*; D046069:Fur Seals / Q000502:physiology*; D007101:Immersion; D008297:Male