Adult barn owl hearing is acute, but development of this sense is not well understood. We therefore measured auditory brainstem responses (ABR) in barn owls from before the onset of hearing (post hatch day 2, or P2) to adulthood (P69). The first consistent responses were detected at P4 for 1 and 2 kHz, followed by responses to 0.5 kHz and 4 kHz at P9, and 5 kHz at P13. Sensitivity to higher frequencies increased with age, with responses to 12 kHz appearing about 2 months after hatching, once the facial ruff was mature. Therefore, these altricial birds achieve their sensitivity to sound during a prolonged period of development, which coincides with maturation of the skull and facial ruff (Haresign and Moiseff 1988).
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.