Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 14, 2026

A Lightweight, Headphones-based System for Manipulating Auditory Feedback in Songbirds
Published on: November 26, 2012
Paradoxical lateral suppression in the dolphin's auditory system: weak sounds suppress response to strong sounds
V V Popov1, Supin AYa, V O Klishin
1Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow. popov@inemor.msk.su
Abstract:
A paradoxical phenomenon was found in the auditory system of dolphins: weak sounds suppressed the brain responses to much stronger sounds. This occurred when the brain evoked potentials to rhythmic sound amplitude modulations were recorded. The response was markedly suppressed by addition of another sound of higher frequency and down to 40 dB lower intensity than the amplitude-modulated signal. Only the sustained rhythmic response was suppressed while transient on-response was not, thus indicating that the suppression influenced the ability of evoked potentials to follow rapid amplitude modulations. This prevents weak sounds from being masked by stronger ones. It may help a dolphin to perceive weaker echo-signals in the background of stronger emitted pulses.
Related Concept Videos
Feedback Inhibition
The Cochlea
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, then the...
Auditory Pathway
When viewed cross-sectionally, the cochlea reveals the scala vestibuli and scala tympani flanking the...
Lateralization
Auditory Perception

