Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 19, 2025

Sound Source Localization Testing in Single-sided Deafness Following Bone Conduction Intervention
Published on: December 20, 2024
Hearing and sound localization in Cottontail rabbits, Sylvilagus floridanus
Rickye S Heffner1, Gimseong Koay2, Henry E Heffner2
1Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, 43606, USA. Rickye.Heffner@utoledo.edu.
Abstract:
Cottontail rabbits represent the first wild species of the order of lagomorphs whose hearing abilities have been determined. Cottontails, Sylvilagus floridanus, evolved in the New World, but have spread worldwide. Their hearing was tested behaviorally using a conditioned-avoidance procedure. At a level of 60 dB SPL, their hearing ranged from 300 Hz to 32 kHz, a span of 7.5 octaves. Mammalian low-frequency hearing is bimodally distributed and Cottontail rabbits fall into the group that hears below 400 Hz. However, their 300-Hz limit puts them near the gap that separates the two populations. The minimum audible angle of cottontails is 27.6°, making them less acute than most other species of mammals. Their large sound-localization threshold is consistent with the observation that mammals with broad fields of best vision require less acuity to direct their eyes to the sources of sound.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Hearing
Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location
Place theory, or place coding, suggests that different pitches are heard because various sound waves activate specific locations along the cochlea's basilar membrane. The brain determines the pitch of a sound by...
Echo
Imagine the sound is reflected back to the ears. Assuming that the source is very close to the human, the difference between hearing the two sounds—the emitted sound and the reflected sound—may be more than the minimum time for perceiving distinct sounds. If this is the case,...
Auditory Pathway
When viewed cross-sectionally, the cochlea reveals the scala vestibuli and scala tympani flanking...
The Cochlea

