AUDITORY THRESHOLDS OF THE BOTTLENOSED PORPOISE (TURSIOPS TRUNCATUS, MONTAGU)

Abstract

Standard operant conditioning techniques were used to train a bottlenosed porpoise to respond to pure tone signals by pushing a lever-operated switch. An audiogram was obtained over the frequency range from 75 hertz to 150 kHz. The lowest thresholds (greatest hearing sensitivity) occurred in the frequencies near 50 kHz at a level of about -55 decibels (re 1 microbar). The effective upper limit of hearing for the experimental animal was determined to be 150 kHz. There was no indication of sensitivity to near-field displacements such as those observed in fish.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 1966
Accession Number
AD0643381

Entities

People

  • C S Johnson

Organizations

  • Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Barium Titanates
  • Biological Sciences
  • Classification
  • Data Analysis
  • Detection
  • Displacement
  • Electron Tubes
  • Fish
  • Frequency
  • Frequency Bands
  • Laboratory Animals
  • Materials
  • Measurement
  • Near Field
  • Transducers
  • Underwater Sound

Readers

  • Acoustics.
  • Auditory Neuroscience/Auditory Physiology.
  • Marine Mammal Biology