2023_programme: Underwater Ears: How and What They Hear

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  • Session: 05. Marine Bioacoustics
    Organiser(s): Jennifer Miksis-Olds
  • Lecture: Underwater Ears: How and What They Hear
    Paper ID: 1969
    Author(s): Ketten Darlene
    Presenter: Ketten Darlene
    Abstract: Hearing is the ability to detect sound, Because properties of sound differ according to the medium, ears differ in air vs. water. How/when/why/where did aquatic acoustic receptors evolve and how diverse are they? Did hearing arise independently, in air and water? This paper will discuss the key features of the range of marine “ears”. \nOf all the senses, only hearing is ubiquitous testifying to the importance of sound as a survival cue. Even natural mutes, like goldfish and sea turtles, listen. What aspects of sounds ears capture depends upon species specific auditory structures that define the auditory ability of that species. The most sophisticated ears are found in mammals which evolved from the stretch receptors and otoliths of aquatic invertebrates and share features with the inner ears of fishes. Over time, these ancestral features elongated, coiled, and increased in complexity in mammals, on land and in water, providing enhanced frequency ranges and discrimination characteristics. Thus, the several hundred or thousands of elements packed into every ear is a window into the evolutionary sculpting driven by three tasks: feed, breed, and survive another day. \nThe ears of aquatic mammals evolved at far more extreme conditions than those of air adapted ears, in extremes of temperature and pressure, operating from the surface to the abyss, yet they developed some of the greatest ranges in frequency and acuity of all mammals. Consequently, differences in the ears and heads of aerial vs aquatic animals reflect how they are tuned to the physics of sound in air vs water. In the modern ocean, these ears now face additional challenges from human impacts, including noise, leading us to ask how robust are these ears and what sounds for what species may be hazardous.
  • Corresponding author: Dr Darlene Ketten
    Affiliation: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Brown University
    Country: United States
    e-mail:

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