Perceptual hearing sensitivity during vocal production

Huan Ye; Jinhong Luo

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.105435

Perceptual hearing sensitivity during vocal production

iScience. 2022 Oct 26;25(11):105435. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105435. eCollection 2022 Nov 18.

Authors

Huan Ye¹, Jinhong Luo¹

Affiliation

¹ Institute of Evolution and Ecology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China.

Abstract

Vocalization, such as speaking, inevitably generates sensory feedback that can cause self-generated masking. However, perceptual hearing sensitivity during vocal production is poorly understood. Using an adaptive psychophysical method, we measured the perceptual hearing sensitivity of an echolocating bat, Hipposideros pratti, in a passive listening (PL) task to detect pure tones, an active listening (AL) task to detect pure tones triggered by its vocalization, and a phantom echo task. We found that hanging H. pratti had the best hearing sensitivity of approximately 0 dB sound pressure level (SPL) in the PL task but much lower hearing sensitivity (nearly 40 dB worse) in the echo task. In the AL task, all bats gradually increased call frequency by 0.8-1.1 kHz, which improved their hearing sensitivity by 25-29 dB. This study underscores the need for studying the sensory capability of subjects engaged in active behaviors.

Keywords: biological sciences; neuroscience; sensory neuroscience.