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Although the fundamental principles of vocal production are well-understood, and are being increasingly applied by specialists to specific animal taxa, they stem originally from engineering research on the human voice. These origins create a double barrier to entry for biologists interested in understanding acoustic communication in their study species. The proposed volume aims to fill this gap, providing easy-to-understand overviews of the various relevant theories and techniques, and showing how these principles can be implemented in the study of all main vertebrate groups. The volume will have eleven chapters assembled from the world's leading researchers, at a level intelligible to a wide audience of biologists with no background in engineering or human voice science. Some will cover sound production in a particular vertebrate group; others will address a particular issue, such as vocal learning, across vertebrate taxa. The book will highlight what is known and how to implement useful techniques and methodologies, but will also summarize current gaps in the knowledge. It will serve both as a tutorial introduction for newcomers and a springboard for further research for all scientists interested in understanding animal acoustic signals.
List of contents
Preface.- Vertebrate Vocal Production: An Introductory Overview.- Fish Sound Production: An Exaptation?.- Vocal Sound Production and Acoustic Communication in Amphibians and Reptiles.- Locomotion-Induced Sounds and Sonations: Mechanisms, Communication Function, and Relationship with Behavior.- Embodied Motor Control of Avian Vocal Production.- Biophysics of Vocal Production in Mammals.- Infrasonic and Seismic Communication in the Vertebrates with Special Emphasis on the Afrotheria: An Update and Future Directions.- Vocal Production by Terrestrial Mammals: Source, Filter, and Function.- Vocal Learning and Auditory-Vocal Feedback.- Vertebrate Bioacoustics: Prospects and Open Problems.
About the author
Roderick Suthers is a professor in the Medical Sciences program at Indiana University Bloomington. He studies neural and physiological bases of acoustic behavior, particularly the neuroethology of vocal communication in birds and of echolocation in bats.
Tecumseh Fitch is an evolutionary biologist and cognitive scientist. He is Professor of Cognitive Biology at the University of Vienna.
Summary
Although the fundamental principles of vocal production are well-understood, and are being increasingly applied by specialists to specific animal taxa, they stem originally from engineering research on the human voice. These origins create a double barrier to entry for biologists interested in understanding acoustic communication in their study species. The proposed volume aims to fill this gap, providing easy-to-understand overviews of the various relevant theories and techniques, and showing how these principles can be implemented in the study of all main vertebrate groups. The volume will have eleven chapters assembled from the world's leading researchers, at a level intelligible to a wide audience of biologists with no background in engineering or human voice science. Some will cover sound production in a particular vertebrate group; others will address a particular issue, such as vocal learning, across vertebrate taxa. The book will highlight what is known and how to implement useful techniques and methodologies, but will also summarize current gaps in the knowledge. It will serve both as a tutorial introduction for newcomers and a springboard for further research for all scientists interested in understanding animal acoustic signals.
