[Sound reception of marine mammales depending on parameters and sound-conducting tracks]

Underwater audiograms of a northern fur seal, a Caspic seal and a dolphin aphalina were measured under conditions of full or partial (the head above the water) submergence of animals using the method of instrumental conditioned reflexes with food reinforcement. The possibility and peculiarities of sound conduction through the body of marine mammals were investigated by isolating the auricle from the medium of sound spreading (under conditions of partial submergence). By the same technique, the hearing thresholds of Caspic seal were measured in the presence of broad- and narrow-band noises with different central frequencies depending on the medium (underwater or in air) the signal and the noise masker were presented and on the sound-conducting ways (under conditions of full or partial submergence of animals). It was found that aerial and underwater sound-conducting canals of the Caspic seal were functionally connected with each other. The level of hearing masking in the Caspic seal is determined by the tracts of signal and noise conduction, by the differences in sensitivity to the signal and masker, and by their spectral structure. Apparently, the tissues of the seal body considerably change the amplitude-frequency characteristics of the sound.