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Have you ever wanted to turn down the volume at a deafening concert or noisy bar? Envy the whale: a new study finds that toothed whales can reduce their own auditory sensitivity when they expect a loud sound. The work is presented at this week’s Acoustics 2012 meeting.
震耳欲聾的音樂(lè)會(huì)或者喧鬧的酒吧，你想過(guò)調(diào)小他們的音量嗎？羨慕鯨魚(yú)吧，最新研究發(fā)現(xiàn)當(dāng)他們預(yù)感到大的聲音時(shí)，齒鯨會(huì)降低聽(tīng)覺(jué)系統(tǒng)的敏感度。這一成果發(fā)表在本周的聲學(xué)交流會(huì)議上。
Whales and dolphins rely on their responsive hearing to interpret returning echolocation clicks. Previous research suggested that these marine mammals could dull their hearing before uttering outgoing echolocation clicks, which are very loud. Could they use the same coping mechanism forexternal noises?
鯨魚(yú)和海豚靠回聲定位系統(tǒng)來(lái)辨別方向。之前的研究顯示這些海洋哺乳動(dòng)物向外發(fā)射很吵的回聲時(shí)，他們就可以讓聽(tīng)覺(jué)變得遲鈍。同樣是否可以運(yùn)用相同的機(jī)制來(lái)處理外面的噪音？
To find out, researchers trained a false killer whale that a loud noise would always follow a briefwarning signal. Then, they attached suction-cup sensors to the outside of the whale’s head and played the signal. The sensors measured brainwaves that indicated the whale did reduce its hearing sensitivity in expectation of a clamor. The researchers hope to test other species as well.
為了找到答案，研究人員訓(xùn)練了一只偽虎鯨，大的噪音下伴隨的是簡(jiǎn)短的警告信號(hào)。然后，他們把吸盤(pán)式的傳感器放在鯨魚(yú)的頭上來(lái)捕捉它的腦電波活動(dòng)，這些信號(hào)顯示了在有預(yù)期的警告下，他們會(huì)降低聽(tīng)覺(jué)敏感度。研究人員希望能夠測(cè)試其他種類(lèi)鯨魚(yú)。
Loud noises from ships can disturb whales. To accommodate marine life, perhaps vessels could emit signals before making a ruckus, warning whales to tune us out.
輪船的噪聲可以干擾鯨魚(yú)。為了融進(jìn)這片海洋，也許輪船在制造噪聲前，可以發(fā)射信號(hào)提醒鯨魚(yú)我們的存在。
