Ears map sounds: owls

1 of 3 Barn owl / Matt Khoth / License

The ears of the owls can map sounds three-dimensionally because of their asymmetric placement.

Biomimicry Taxonomy

	Process information >
	Sense signals/environmental cues >
	Sound and other vibrations

Biomimetic Application Ideas

Hear aids Building designs for performance spaces Using sound to build 3D picture for computer models.

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[Collapse all sections] Summary

"The 'ears' of this long-eared owl are not ears at all, but merely decorative feathers. The owl relies mainly on its hearing when hunting. Its ears are placed asymmetrically on either side of its head, and the sounds received by them are interpreted to give a very accurate three-dimensional sound map of its surroundings." (Foy and Oxford Scientific Films 1982:165)

"Barn owls are better at tracking sounds that move horizontally than those that move vertically, researchers have found…The work, published in PLoS ONE1, relies on a phenomenon noted by Ivan Pavlov, of salivating dog fame, in the 1920s. Pavlov saw that animals respond to stimuli such as sudden movements or novel noises with a set of automatic responses, including muscle tensing and pupil dilation.

"Avinash Bala, a neurologist at the University of Oregon in Eugene, and his colleagues have used this response to monitor when barn owls (Tyto alba) recognize a new sound.

"The researchers played the owls sounds whose positions differed either horizontally or vertically, and measured the birds' pupil dilation using a beam of infrared light bounced off the cornea.

"Owls were about twice as sensitive to horizontal shifts compared with vertical changes. The birds could detect a change in location as small as 3º when the source was moved horizontally, compared with 7.5º when the source was moved vertically...The researchers also mapped which neurons in the auditory centre of the owls' brains fired in response to the sounds.

"The activity pattern of the neurons matched the location of the sound, the team found. Sounds from above, for example, cause neurons towards the top of the auditory centre to fire, whereas sounds from lower down trigger neurons towards the bottom. 'The owls basically have a topographic map of space in their brain,' says Bala." (Ledford 2007)

About the inspiring organism

Common Barn-Owl
Tyto alba (Scopoli, 1769)
[Barn Owl]

Some organism data provided by: ITIS: The Integrated Taxonomic Information System
Organism/taxonomy data provided by:
Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2008 Annual Checklist

Bioinspired products and application ideas

Application Ideas: Hearing aids, building designs for performance spaces, microphones, using sound to build 3D picture for computer models.

Industrial Sector(s) interested in this strategy: Audiology, building, communications, entertainment, electronics, software

References

Foy, Sally; Oxford Scientific Films. 1982. The Grand Design: Form and Colour in Animals. Lingfield, Surrey, U.K.: BLA Publishing Limited for J.M.Dent & Sons Ltd, Aldine House, London. 238 p.

Bala ADS; Spitzer MW; Takahashi TT. 2007. Auditory spatial acuity approximates the resolving power of space-specific neurons. PLoS ONE [Internet],

Ledford H. 2007. Owls' ears map the world. Nature News [Internet],

Ears map sounds: owls

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