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Evolution of vocal control in echolocating bats.

Shuying Chen¹, Yossi Yovel², Cynthia F Moss³

¹Key Laboratory of Pesticide & Chemical Biology of Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation & Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, China.

Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society

|December 26, 2025

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Echolocating bats exhibit remarkable vocal flexibility, largely driven by the need to overcome auditory masking. This vocal adjustment, crucial for active sensing, highlights evolutionary pressures on bat communication.

Keywords:

acoustic divergence active sensing environmental noise phenotypic plasticity vocal control

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Area of Science:

Bioacoustics
Animal Behavior
Evolutionary Biology

Background:

Echolocating bats possess exceptional vocal plasticity, exceeding other mammals.
The evolutionary drivers for this vocal flexibility remain largely unknown.
Vocal adjustments are key to bat echolocation and communication.

Purpose of the Study:

To critically evaluate the probable drivers of vocal flexibility in echolocating bats.
To synthesize current understanding of evolutionary pressures on bat vocal behavior.
To investigate the role of acoustic interference in bat vocal plasticity.

Main Methods:

Conducted a synthetic review of existing research on bat vocal flexibility.
Analyzed vocal adjustment behaviors in echolocating bats.
Evaluated the functional significance of different vocal strategies.

Main Results:

Approximately 60% of vocal adjustments in bats serve to mitigate acoustic interference, primarily auditory masking.
Half of these anti-interference strategies address reafferent masking, unique to active-sensing animals.
Auditory masking mitigation is a significant factor shaping bat vocal flexibility.

Conclusions:

Auditory masking mitigation is a strong evolutionary pressure for vocal flexibility in echolocating bats.
Reafferent masking presents specific challenges for active-sensing animals like bats.
Understanding vocal flexibility provides insights into bat sensory ecology and evolution.