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Related Concept Videos

The Cochlea01:13

The Cochlea

The cochlea is a coiled structure in the inner ear that contains hair cells—the sensory receptors of the auditory system. Sound waves are transmitted to the cochlea by small bones attached to the eardrum called the ossicles, which vibrate the oval window that leads to the inner ear. This causes fluid in the chambers of the cochlea to move, vibrating the basilar membrane.
Hearing01:31

Hearing

When we hear a sound, our nervous system is detecting sound waves—pressure waves of mechanical energy traveling through a medium. The frequency of the wave is perceived as pitch, while the amplitude is perceived as loudness.

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A Low Cost Setup for Behavioral Audiometry in Rodents
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Pitch discrimination by ferrets for simple and complex sounds.

Kerry M M Walker1, Jan W H Schnupp, Sheelah M B Hart-Schnupp

  • 1Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, Sherrington Building, Parks Road, University of Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. kerry@oxfordhearing.com

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|September 11, 2009
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Summary

Ferrets can learn to distinguish sounds by pitch, but require more training than for simple frequency changes. Their pitch discrimination abilities are less sensitive than typically reported for other mammals.

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Area of Science:

  • Animal Behavior
  • Psychoacoustics
  • Auditory Perception

Background:

  • Limited research exists on animals' ability to discriminate the fundamental frequency (F0) of complex sounds.
  • The perception of pitch in complex sounds by animals along a continuous scale remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate ferrets' ability to discriminate sounds based on F0 using pure tones and artificial vowels.
  • To compare ferret pitch discrimination thresholds with those of human listeners and with previous frequency change detection tasks.

Main Methods:

  • Four ferrets were trained on a two-alternative forced choice task to differentiate sounds by F0.
  • Stimuli included pure tones and artificial vowels across various reference F0s (200-1200 Hz).
  • Weber fractions were calculated to quantify discrimination performance.

Main Results:

  • Ferrets' Weber fractions for F0 discrimination ranged from 20% to 80%, similar for pure tones and vowels.
  • These thresholds were approximately ten times higher than those reported for other mammals in frequency change detection tasks.
  • Naive human listeners outperformed ferrets but showed similar patterns related to stimulus type and reference F0.

Conclusions:

  • Non-human animals can be trained to label complex sounds as high or low in pitch.
  • Discriminating pitch in complex sounds is significantly more challenging for animals than detecting simple frequency changes.
  • Ferrets' pitch perception may differ from simpler frequency detection mechanisms.