Signal-to-noise ratio for source determination and for a comodulated masker in goldfish, <i>Carassius auratus</i>

Fay, Richard R.

doi:10.1121/1.3562179

Cited by 22 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…These behavioral contexts represent fundamental communication tasks of critical evolutionary importance for frogs and many other animals. Results from this study, therefore, substantially extend earlier work on humans [5, 21–23], frogs [41], and other animals [6, 42, 43] by showing that comodulation is a statistic of natural acoustic scenes that can be exploited to mitigate costly, noise-induced errors in communication.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Frogs Exploit Statistical Regularities in Noisy Acoustic Scenes to Solve Cocktail-Party-like Problems

et al. 2017

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SUMMARY Noise is a ubiquitous source of errors in all forms of communication [1]. Noise-induced errors in speech communication, for example, make it difficult for humans to converse in noisy social settings, a challenge aptly named the “cocktail party problem” [2]. Many nonhuman animals also communicate acoustically in noisy social groups, and thus face biologically analogous problems [3]. However, we know little about how the perceptual systems of receivers are evolutionarily adapted to avoid the costs of noise-induced errors in communication. In this study of Cope’s gray treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis; Hylidae), we investigated whether receivers exploit a potential statistical regularity present in noisy acoustic scenes to reduce errors in signal recognition and discrimination. We developed an anatomical/physiological model of the peripheral auditory system to show that temporal correlation in amplitude fluctuations across the frequency spectrum (“comodulation”) [4–6] is a feature of the noise generated by large breeding choruses of sexually advertising males. In four psychophysical experiments, we investigated whether females exploit comodulation in background noise to mitigate noise-induced errors in evolutionarily critical mate-choice decisions. Subjects experienced fewer errors in recognizing conspecific calls and in selecting the calls of high-quality mates in the presence of simulated chorus noise that was comodulated. These data show unequivocally, and for the first time, that exploiting statistical regularities present in noisy acoustic scenes is an important biological strategy for solving cocktail-party-like problems in nonhuman animal communication.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Frogs Exploit Statistical Regularities in Noisy Acoustic Scenes to Solve Cocktail-Party-like Problems

et al. 2017

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“…Natural sounds, including frog choruses, exhibit correlated temporal fluctuations (“comodulation”) across the frequency spectrum (Klump, 1996; Nelken et al, 1999). Studies of humans (reviewed in Verhey et al, 2003) and a few other animals (Branstetter and Finneran, 2008; Branstetter et al, 2013; Fay, 2011; Jensen, 2007; Klump and Langemann, 1995; Langemann and Klump, 2007) indicate that auditory systems are sensitive to these correlations. Typically lower signal detection thresholds are found in comodulated noise.…”

Section: Auditory Scene Analysis In Hylamentioning

confidence: 99%

Treefrogs as animal models for research on auditory scene analysis and the cocktail party problem

Bee

2015

International Journal of Psychophysiology

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The perceptual analysis of acoustic scenes involves binding together sounds from the same source and separating them from other sounds in the environment. In large social groups, listeners experience increased difficulty performing these tasks due to high noise levels and interference from the concurrent signals of multiple individuals. While a substantial body of literature on these issues pertains to human hearing and speech communication, few studies have investigated how nonhuman animals may be evolutionarily adapted to solve biologically analogous communication problems. Here, I review recent and ongoing work aimed at testing hypotheses about perceptual mechanisms that enable treefrogs in the genus Hyla to communicate vocally in noisy, multi-source social environments. After briefly introducing the genus and the methods used to study hearing in frogs, I outline several functional constraints on communication posed by the acoustic environment of breeding “choruses”. Then, I review studies of sound source perception aimed at uncovering how treefrog listeners may be adapted to cope with these constraints. Specifically, this review covers research on the acoustic cues used in sequential and simultaneous auditory grouping, spatial release from masking, and dip listening. Throughout the paper, I attempt to illustrate how broad-scale, comparative studies of carefully considered animal models may ultimately reveal an evolutionary diversity of underlying mechanisms for solving cocktail-party-like problems in communication.

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“…Dip listening is well known in the contexts of human hearing and speech perception (Bacon, Opie, & Montoya, 1998; Cooke, 2006; Füllgrabe, Berthommier, & Lorenzi, 2006; Gustafsson & Arlinger, 1994; Vestegaard, Fyson, & Patterson, 2011). Behavioral and neurophysiological studies of animals from diverse taxa show that simple tonal and narrowband noise signals can be detected at relatively lower thresholds in the presence of maskers with sinusoidal or random level fluctuations, compared with non-fluctuating maskers (birds: Bee, Buschermöhle, & Klump, 2007; Hofer & Klump, 2003; Jensen, 2007; Klump & Langemann, 1995; Langemann & Klump, 2001, 2007; Nieder & Klump, 2001; cats: Nelken et al, Rotman, & Yosef, 1999; dolphins: Branstetter & Finneran, 2008; fish: Fay, 2011; frogs: Goense & Feng, 2012). The hypothesis that dip listening contributes to the ability of nonhuman animals to recognize communication signals in noisy social aggregations (Langemann & Klump, 2005) has so far received limited attention (but see Ronacher & Hoffmann, 2003).…”

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confidence: 99%

Signal recognition by green treefrogs (Hyla cinerea) and cope’s gray treefrogs (Hyla chrysoscelis) in naturally fluctuating noise.

Vélez¹,

Bee²

2013

Journal of Comparative Psychology

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This study tested three hypotheses about the ability of female frogs to exploit temporal fluctuations in the level of background noise to overcome the problem of recognizing male advertisement calls in noisy breeding choruses. Phonotaxis tests with green treefrogs (Hyla cinerea) and Cope’s gray treefrogs (Hyla chrysoscelis) were used to measure thresholds for recognizing calls in the presence of noise maskers with (i) no level fluctuations, (ii) random fluctuations, or level fluctuations characteristic of (iii) conspecific choruses and (iv) heterospecific choruses. The dip-listening hypothesis predicted lower signal recognition thresholds in the presence of fluctuating maskers compared with non-fluctuating maskers. Support for the dip listening hypothesis was weak; only Cope’s gray treefrogs experienced dip listening and only in the presence of randomly fluctuating maskers. The natural soundscapes advantage hypothesis predicted lower recognition thresholds when level fluctuations resembled those of natural soundscapes compared with artificial fluctuations. This hypothesis was rejected. In noise backgrounds with natural fluctuations, the species-specific advantage hypothesis predicted lower recognition thresholds when fluctuations resembled species-specific patterns of conspecific soundscapes. No evidence was found to support this hypothesis. These results corroborate previous findings showing that Cope’s gray treefrogs, but not green treefrogs, experience dip listening under some noise conditions. Together, the results suggest level fluctuations in the soundscape of natural breeding choruses may present few dip-listening opportunities. The findings of this study provide little support for the hypothesis that receivers are adapted to exploit level fluctuations of natural soundscapes in recognizing communication signals.

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Signal-to-noise ratio for source determination and for a comodulated masker in goldfish, Carassius auratus

Cited by 22 publications

References 29 publications

Frogs Exploit Statistical Regularities in Noisy Acoustic Scenes to Solve Cocktail-Party-like Problems

Frogs Exploit Statistical Regularities in Noisy Acoustic Scenes to Solve Cocktail-Party-like Problems

Treefrogs as animal models for research on auditory scene analysis and the cocktail party problem

Signal recognition by green treefrogs (Hyla cinerea) and cope’s gray treefrogs (Hyla chrysoscelis) in naturally fluctuating noise.

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