The sender-receiver matching hypothesis: support from the peripheral coding of acoustic features in songbirds

Abstract

SUMMARYThe sender-receiver matching hypothesis predicts that species-specific features of vocalizations will be reflected in speciesspecific auditory processing. This hypothesis has most often been invoked to explain correlations between vocal frequency ranges and the frequency range of auditory sensitivity; however, it could apply to other structural features, such as the rise time of stimuli. We explored this hypothesis in five songbird species that vary in the rise times and frequency range of their vocalizations. We recorded auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) to onset and sustained portions of stimuli that varied in both frequency and rise time. AEPs are gross potentials generated in the auditory nerve and brainstem and measured from the scalp. We found that species with shorter rise times in their vocalizations had greater amplitude and shorter latency onset AEPs than species with longer rise times. We also found that species with lower frequency and/or more tonal vocalizations had stronger sustained AEPs that follow the sound pressure changes in the stimulus (i.e. frequency following responses) than species with higher frequency and/or less tonal vocalizations. This is the first study in songbirds to show that acoustic features such as rise time and tonality are reflected in peripheral auditory processing.

An exception to the matched filter hypothesis: A mismatch of male call frequency and female best hearing frequency in a torrent frog

“…In many insects, fish, birds, and anurans, auditory sensitivity is closely matched with the spectral characteristics of conspecific vocalizations (Gall, Brierley, & Lucas, ; Ladich & Yan, ; Schmidt, Riede, & Römer, ; Simmons, ). The adaptive significance of such matching is that it increases the effectiveness of communication despite interference from many abiotic and biotic sources in the natural environment (Wiley & Richards, ).…”

Frequency discrimination in the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus)

“…Indeed, the match between behaviorally relevant acoustic signals and auditory tuning has been extensively studied over the last 50 years, and has been well established across a wide range of taxa, including insects and frogs (e.g., Capranica and Moffat, 1975; Brzoska et al, 1977; Ryan and Wilczynski, 1988; Gerhardt and Schwartz, 2001; Gerhardt and Huber, 2002; Sueur et al, 2010; Schrode and Bee, 2015), birds (e.g., Dooing and Saunders, 1975; Dooling et al, 1978, 1979, 2000; Farabaugh et al, 1998; Wright et al, 2003; Gall et al, 2012), and bats (e.g., Bohn et al, 2004, 2006). A similar correspondence also exists in at least one New World primate species, the squirrel monkey, where lowest FDLs occur in the frequency range of this species’ vocal repertoire (Winter et al, 1966; Wienicke et al, 2001; Newman, 2003).…”

Song structure, not high‐frequency song content, determines high‐frequency auditory sensitivity in nine species of New World sparrows (Passeriformes: Emberizidae)

“…Few studies have explored how the SRMH applies to acoustic properties outside the spectral domain. A recent study showed that peripheral auditory processing of fast sound onsets correlates with the rise time of vocalizations in five songbird species, including three New World sparrows (Gall, Brierley & Lucas ). Similarly, previous studies showed a correlation between the harmonic structure of vocalizations and the auditory processing of harmonics (Lohr & Dooling ; Dooling et al .…”