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UNDERWATER AUDIOGRAM OF THE CALIFORNIA SEA LION BY THE CONDITIONED VOCALIZATION TECHNIQUE 1
Author(s) -
Schusterman Ronald J.,
Balliet Richard F.,
Nixon James
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
journal of the experimental analysis of behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1938-3711
pISSN - 0022-5002
DOI - 10.1901/jeab.1972.17-339
Subject(s) - zalophus californianus , audiogram , underwater , acoustics , sea lion , sensitivity (control systems) , octave (electronics) , audiology , physics , geology , oceanography , biology , hearing loss , engineering , medicine , fishery , electronic engineering
Conditioning techniques were developed demonstrating that pure tone frequencies under water can exert nearly perfect control over the underwater click vocalizations of the California sea lion ( Zalophus californianus ). Conditioned vocalizations proved to be a reliable way of obtaining underwater sound detection thresholds in Zalophus at 13 different frequencies, covering a frequency range of 250 to 64,000 Hz. The audiogram generated by these threshold measurements suggests that under water, the range of maximal sensitivity for Zalophus lies between one and 28 kHz with best sensitivity at 16 kHz. Between 28 and 36 kHz there is a loss in sensitivity of 60 dB/octave. However, with relatively intense acoustic signals (> 38 dB re 1 μb underwater), Zalophus will respond to frequencies at least as high as 192 kHz. These results are compared with the underwater hearing of other marine mammals.