Toothed whale auditory brainstem responses measured with a non-invasive, on-animal tag

Empirical measurements of odontocete hearing are limited to captive individuals, constituting a fraction of species across the suborder. Data from more species could be available if such measurements were collected from unrestrained animals in the wild. This study investigated whether electrophysiol...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:JASA Express Letters
Main Authors: Smith, Adam B., Madsen, Peter T., Johnson, Mark, Tyack, Peter, Wahlberg, Magnus
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/toothed-whale-auditory-brainstem-responses-measured-with-a-noninvasive-onanimal-tag(0c6b2d38-73a5-4b6d-9b7c-ffb8beb23521).html
https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0006454
https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/24115/1/Smith_2021_JASA_Toothed_whale_CC.pdf
Description
Summary:Empirical measurements of odontocete hearing are limited to captive individuals, constituting a fraction of species across the suborder. Data from more species could be available if such measurements were collected from unrestrained animals in the wild. This study investigated whether electrophysiological hearing data could be recorded from a trained harbor porpoise ( Phocoena phocoena ) using a non-invasive, animal-attached tag. The results demonstrate that auditory brainstem responses to external and self-generated stimuli can be measured from a stationary odontocete using an animal-attached recorder. With additional development, tag-based electrophysiological platforms may facilitate the collection of hearing data from freely swimming odontocetes in the wild.