Spontaneous otoacoustic emissions in the barn owl

Spontaneous otoacoustic emissions (SOAE) were studied in a bird, the barn owl. They were found in 79% of the ears investigated, and each emitting ear generated on average 1.9 emissions. Their peak sound-pressure levels lay between -5.8 and 10.3 dB, and their centre frequencies between 2.3 and 10.5 kHz. The SOAE originated primarily in the upper quarter of the animal's hearing range, and derived from a specialized area previously described as being within an auditory fovea. Indeed, 93% of the emissions had centre frequencies above 7.5 kHz. The median of the frequency distances between neighbouring SOAE was 406 Hz (0.058 oct). The 3 dB bandwidth of the emissions depended on their amplitude above the noise: for SOAE whose level exceeded 10 dB above the noise floor, the 3 dB bandwidths ranged between 4.5 and 11.4 Hz. SOAE frequencies were temperature sensitive. Raising the temperature shifted the emissions to higher frequencies, and vice versa (the frequency shifted on average 0.039 oct/degrees C). External tones could suppress the level of SOAE, an effect that was highly tuned. For SOAE with frequencies between 2.5 and 10.5 kHz, the Q(10dB) values of 2 dB iso-suppression tuning curves (STC) varied from 1.07 to 10.40. The best thresholds of 2 dB STC were generally below 15 dB SPL.