Hear Where We Are by Michael Stocker

Author:Michael Stocker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer New York, New York, NY

Michael StockerHear Where We Are2013Sound, Ecology, and Sense of Place10.1007/978-1-4614-7285-8_4© Michael Stocker 2013

4. Sound Menagerie: Other Animals’ Sound Perception

Michael Stocker1

(1)Lagunitas, CA, USA

Abstract

Given the superlative range of human sound perception, and the wondrous ways we use our sense of hearing, one might assume that human sound perception represents the pinnacle of bio-acoustic adaptation in nature. But the success of our species is not in specialization; humans are generalists, and while we hear quite well, our hearing is by no way “the most,” the “best,” or the “finest” of all creatures—it is just very well adapted to our habitat and our perceptual priorities. The impressive quality of our gift has unfortunately set much of our scientific research up to compare other animals’ use of sound to our own. While this strategy has yielded some amazing information on animal bio-acoustics, we have by the limits of our own perception been hampered in understanding some of the finer points of how other animals use sound. This is particularly the case when those ways are alien to us.

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