Repetition enhances hearing detection thresholds in a harbour seal ( Phoca vitulina )
Pure-tone hearing thresholds of a harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) were measured in air and underwater using behavioural psychophysical techniques. A 50-ms sinusoidal pulse was presented in both white-noise masked and unmasked situations at pulse repetition rates of 1, 2, 4, and 10/s. Test frequencies...
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1993
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/z93-120 2023-12-17T10:31:16+01:00 Repetition enhances hearing detection thresholds in a harbour seal ( Phoca vitulina ) Turnbull, S. D. Terhune, J. M. 1993 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z93-120 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z93-120 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 71, issue 5, page 926-932 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 1993 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/z93-120 2023-11-19T13:38:43Z Pure-tone hearing thresholds of a harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) were measured in air and underwater using behavioural psychophysical techniques. A 50-ms sinusoidal pulse was presented in both white-noise masked and unmasked situations at pulse repetition rates of 1, 2, 4, and 10/s. Test frequencies were 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, and 8.0 kHz in air and 2.0, 4.0, 8.0, and 16.0 kHz underwater. Relative to 1 pulse/s, mean threshold shifts were −1, −3, and −5 dB at 2, 4, and 10 pulses/s, respectively. The threshold shifts from 1 to 10 pulses/s were significant (F = 12.457, df = 2,36, p < 0.001) and there was no difference in the threshold shifts between the masked and unmasked situations (F = 2.585; df = 1,50; p > 0.10). Broadband masking caused by meteorological or industrial sources will closely resemble the white-noise situation. At high calling rates, the numerous overlapping calls of some species (e.g., harp seal, Phoca groenlandica) present virtually continous "background noise" which also resembles the broadband white-noise masking situation. An implication of lower detection thresholds is that if a seal regularly repeats short vocalizations, the communication range of that call could be increased significantly (80% at 10 pulses/s). This could have important implications during the breeding season should storms or shipping noises occur or when some pinniped species become increasingly vocal and the background noise of conspecifics increases. Article in Journal/Newspaper harbour seal Harp Seal Phoca groenlandica Phoca vitulina Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) Canadian Journal of Zoology 71 5 926 932 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
spellingShingle |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Turnbull, S. D. Terhune, J. M. Repetition enhances hearing detection thresholds in a harbour seal ( Phoca vitulina ) |
topic_facet |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Pure-tone hearing thresholds of a harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) were measured in air and underwater using behavioural psychophysical techniques. A 50-ms sinusoidal pulse was presented in both white-noise masked and unmasked situations at pulse repetition rates of 1, 2, 4, and 10/s. Test frequencies were 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, and 8.0 kHz in air and 2.0, 4.0, 8.0, and 16.0 kHz underwater. Relative to 1 pulse/s, mean threshold shifts were −1, −3, and −5 dB at 2, 4, and 10 pulses/s, respectively. The threshold shifts from 1 to 10 pulses/s were significant (F = 12.457, df = 2,36, p < 0.001) and there was no difference in the threshold shifts between the masked and unmasked situations (F = 2.585; df = 1,50; p > 0.10). Broadband masking caused by meteorological or industrial sources will closely resemble the white-noise situation. At high calling rates, the numerous overlapping calls of some species (e.g., harp seal, Phoca groenlandica) present virtually continous "background noise" which also resembles the broadband white-noise masking situation. An implication of lower detection thresholds is that if a seal regularly repeats short vocalizations, the communication range of that call could be increased significantly (80% at 10 pulses/s). This could have important implications during the breeding season should storms or shipping noises occur or when some pinniped species become increasingly vocal and the background noise of conspecifics increases. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Turnbull, S. D. Terhune, J. M. |
author_facet |
Turnbull, S. D. Terhune, J. M. |
author_sort |
Turnbull, S. D. |
title |
Repetition enhances hearing detection thresholds in a harbour seal ( Phoca vitulina ) |
title_short |
Repetition enhances hearing detection thresholds in a harbour seal ( Phoca vitulina ) |
title_full |
Repetition enhances hearing detection thresholds in a harbour seal ( Phoca vitulina ) |
title_fullStr |
Repetition enhances hearing detection thresholds in a harbour seal ( Phoca vitulina ) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Repetition enhances hearing detection thresholds in a harbour seal ( Phoca vitulina ) |
title_sort |
repetition enhances hearing detection thresholds in a harbour seal ( phoca vitulina ) |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
1993 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z93-120 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z93-120 |
genre |
harbour seal Harp Seal Phoca groenlandica Phoca vitulina |
genre_facet |
harbour seal Harp Seal Phoca groenlandica Phoca vitulina |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 71, issue 5, page 926-932 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/z93-120 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Zoology |
container_volume |
71 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
926 |
op_container_end_page |
932 |
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1785584480123092992 |