title: Bat noseleaf model: echolocation function, design considerations, and experimental verification.
abstract: This paper describes a possible bat noseleaf echolocation function that improves target elevation resolution. Bats with a protruding noseleaf can rotate the lancet to act as an acoustic mirror that reflects the nostril emission, modeled as a virtual nostril that produces a delayed emission. The cancellation of the nostril and virtual nostril components at a target produces a sharp spectral notch whose frequency location relates to target elevation. This notch can be observed directly from the swept-frequency emission waveform, suggesting cochlear processing capabilities. Physical acoustic principles indicate the design considerations and trade-offs that a bat can accomplish through noseleaf shape and emission characteristics. An experimental model verifies the analysis and exhibits an elevation versus notch frequency sensitivity of approximately 1°/kHz.
authors.affiliation: Intelligent Sensors Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8284, USA. roman.kuc@yale.edu
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kuc
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics / Q000295:instrumentation; D000818:Animals; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D004455:Echolocation / Q000502:physiology*; D004867:Equipment Design; D008433:Mathematics; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D008954:Models, Biological; D009666:Nose / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D014159:Transducers