scholarly journals Discrimination of natural acoustic variation in vocal signals

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam R. Fishbein ◽  
Nora H. Prior ◽  
Jane A. Brown ◽  
Gregory F. Ball ◽  
Robert J. Dooling
Keyword(s):  
Zebra Finch ◽  
Acoustic Communication ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Vocal Signals ◽  
Acoustic Variation ◽  
Zebra Finch Song ◽  
Human Listener

AbstractStudies of acoustic communication often focus on the categories and units of vocalizations, but subtle variation also occurs in how these signals are uttered. In human speech, it is not only phonemes and words that carry information but also the timbre, intonation, and stress of how speech sounds are delivered (often referred to as “paralinguistic content”). In non-human animals, variation across utterances of vocal signals also carries behaviorally relevant information across taxa. However, the discriminability of these cues has been rarely tested in a psychophysical paradigm. Here, we focus on acoustic communication in the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata), a songbird species in which the male produces a single stereotyped motif repeatedly in song bouts. These motif renditions, like the song repetitions of many birds, sound very similar to the casual human listener. In this study, we show that zebra finches can easily discriminate between the renditions, even at the level of single song syllables, much as humans can discriminate renditions of speech sounds. These results support the notion that sensitivity to fine acoustic details may be a primary channel of information in zebra finch song, as well as a shared, foundational property of vocal communication systems across species.

scholarly journals The interplay of within-species perceptual predispositions and experience during song ontogeny in zebra finches ( Taeniopygia guttata )

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1796) ◽  
pp. 20141860 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sita M. ter Haar ◽  
Wiebke Kaemper ◽  
Koen Stam ◽  
Clara C. Levelt ◽  
Carel ten Cate
Keyword(s):  
Zebra Finch ◽  
Taeniopygia Guttata ◽  
Song Learning ◽  
Zebra Finches ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Common Elements ◽  
Juvenile Male ◽  
Young Infants ◽  
Perceptual Preferences ◽  
Zebra Finch Song

Vocal acquisition in songbirds and humans shows many similarities, one of which is that both involve a combination of experience and perceptual predispositions. Among languages some speech sounds are shared, while others are not. This could reflect a predisposition in young infants for learning some speech sounds over others, which combines with exposure-based learning. Similarly, in songbirds, some sounds are common across populations, while others are more specific to populations or individuals. We examine whether this is also due to perceptual preferences for certain within-species element types in naive juvenile male birds, and how such preferences interact with exposure to guide subsequent song learning. We show that young zebra finches lacking previous song exposure perceptually prefer songs with more common zebra finch song element types over songs with less common elements. Next, we demonstrate that after subsequent tutoring, birds prefer tutor songs regardless of whether these contain more common or less common elements. In adulthood, birds tutored with more common elements showed a higher song similarity to their tutor song, indicating that the early bias influenced song learning. Our findings help to understand the maintenance of similarities and the presence of differences among birds' songs, their dialects and human languages.

scholarly journals Tolerant and intolerant macaques show different levels of structural complexity in their vocal communication

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1928) ◽  
pp. 20200439
Author(s):  
Nancy Rebout ◽  
Arianna De Marco ◽  
Jean-Christophe Lone ◽  
Andrea Sanna ◽  
Roberto Cozzolino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Communication Systems ◽  
Social Complexity ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Rhesus Macaques ◽  
Structural Complexity ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Social Tolerance ◽  
The Social ◽  
Vocal Signals ◽  
Complexity Hypothesis

We tested the social complexity hypothesis which posits that animals living in complex social environments should use complex communication systems. We focused on two components of vocal complexity: diversity (number of categories of calls) and flexibility (degree of gradation between categories of calls). We compared the acoustic structure of vocal signals in groups of macaques belonging to four species with varying levels of uncertainty (i.e. complexity) in social tolerance (the higher the degree of tolerance, the higher the degree of uncertainty): two intolerant species, Japanese and rhesus macaques, and two tolerant species, Tonkean and crested macaques. We recorded the vocalizations emitted by adult females in affiliative, agonistic and neutral contexts. We analysed several acoustic variables: call duration, entropy, time and frequency energy quantiles. The results showed that tolerant macaques displayed higher levels of vocal diversity and flexibility than intolerant macaques in situations with a greater number of options and consequences, i.e. in agonistic and affiliative contexts. We found no significant differences between tolerant and intolerant macaques in the neutral context where individuals are not directly involved in social interaction. This shows that species experiencing more uncertain social interactions displayed greater vocal diversity and flexibility, which supports the social complexity hypothesis.

scholarly journals Vocal plasticity in a reptile

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1855) ◽  
pp. 20170451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrik Brumm ◽  
Sue Anne Zollinger
Keyword(s):  
Signal Detection ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
High Amplitude ◽  
Vocal Plasticity ◽  
Lombard Effect ◽  
Gekko Gecko ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Signalling Systems

Sophisticated vocal communication systems of birds and mammals, including human speech, are characterized by a high degree of plasticity in which signals are individually adjusted in response to changes in the environment. Here, we present, to our knowledge, the first evidence for vocal plasticity in a reptile. Like birds and mammals, tokay geckos ( Gekko gecko ) increased the duration of brief call notes in the presence of broadcast noise compared to quiet conditions, a behaviour that facilitates signal detection by receivers. By contrast, they did not adjust the amplitudes of their call syllables in noise (the Lombard effect), which is in line with the hypothesis that the Lombard effect has evolved independently in birds and mammals. However, the geckos used a different strategy to increase signal-to-noise ratios: instead of increasing the amplitude of a given call type when exposed to noise, the subjects produced more high-amplitude syllable types from their repertoire. Our findings demonstrate that reptile vocalizations are much more flexible than previously thought, including elaborate vocal plasticity that is also important for the complex signalling systems of birds and mammals. We suggest that signal detection constraints are one of the major forces driving the evolution of animal communication systems across different taxa.

scholarly journals Acoustic communication and the evolution of hearing in fishes

2000 ◽  
Vol 355 (1401) ◽  
pp. 1285-1288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Friedrich Ladich
Keyword(s):  
Inner Ear ◽  
Acoustic Communication ◽  
Acoustic Signals ◽  
Spectral Content ◽  
Auditory Thresholds ◽  
Selective Pressures ◽  
Vocal Signals ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Hearing Abilities ◽  
Dominant Frequencies

Fishes have evolved a diversity of sound–generating organs and acoustic signals of various temporal and spectral content. Additionally, representatives of many teleost families such as otophysines, anabantoids, mormyrids and holocentrids possess accessory structures that enhance hearing abilities by acoustically coupling air–filled cavities to the inner ear. Contrary to the accessory hearing structures such as Weberian ossicles in otophysines and suprabranchial chambers in anabantoids, sonic organs do not occur in all members of these taxa. Comparison of audiograms among nine representatives of seven otophysan families from four orders revealed major differences in auditory sensitivity, especially at higher frequencies (> 1kHz) where thresholds differed by up to 50 dB. These differences showed no apparent correspondence to the ability to produce sounds (vocal versus non–vocal species) or to the spectral content of species–specific sounds. In anabantoids, the lowest auditory thresholds were found in the blue gourami Trichogaster trichopterus , a species not thought to be vocal. Dominant frequencies of sounds corresponded with optimal hearing bandwidth in two out of three vocalizing species. Based on these results, it is concluded that the selective pressures involved in the evolution of accessory hearing structures and in the design of vocal signals were other than those serving to optimize acoustic communication.

scholarly journals Anatomical plasticity in the adult zebra finch song system

2012 ◽  
Vol 520 (16) ◽  
pp. 3673-3686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn S. McDonald ◽  
John R. Kirn
Keyword(s):  
Zebra Finch ◽  
Song System ◽  
Anatomical Plasticity ◽  
Zebra Finch Song
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