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Updated: Jun 21, 2026

A Lightweight, Headphones-based System for Manipulating Auditory Feedback in Songbirds
Published on: November 26, 2012
New perspectives on the physics of birdsong
1Departamento de Física, FCEyN, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, 1428EGA Buenos Aires, Argentina. marcos@df.uba.ar
Abstract:
In this work, we revisit the path that has been travelled during the last few years towards the modelling of the avian vocal organ, the syrinx, using numerical and theoretical techniques from bifurcation theory as analysing tools and present experimental support for the models. This fruitful perspective allowed the retracing of many acoustic features of syllables to intrinsic properties of the syrinx, thereby relocating the bird phonatory organ from the role of a mere vocal instrument of the nervous system to a central source of complex acoustical behaviour.
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