Time-resolved tympanal mechanics of the locust
Windmill, J.F.C. and Bockenhauer, S. and Robert, D. (2008) Time-resolved tympanal mechanics of the locust. Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 5 (29). pp. 1435-1443. ISSN 1742-5689 (https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2008.0131)
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Abstract
A salient characteristic of most auditory systems is their capacity to analyse the frequency of sound. Little is known about how such analysis is performed across the diversity of auditorysystems found in animals, and especially in insects. In locusts, frequency analysis is primarilymechanical, based on vibrational waves travelling across the tympanal membrane. Differentacoustic frequencies generate travelling waves that direct vibrations to distinct tympanallocations, where distinct groups of correspondingly tuned mechanosensory neurons attach.Measuring the mechanical tympanal response, for the first time, to acoustic impulses in thetime domain, nanometre-range vibrational waves are characterized with high spatial andtemporal resolutions. Conventional Fourier analysis is also used to characterize the responsein the frequency domain. Altogether these results show that travelling waves originate from aparticular tympanal location and travel across the membrane to generate oscillations in theexact region where mechanosensory neurons attach. Notably, travelling waves areunidirectional; no strong back reflection or wave resonance could be observed across themembrane. These results constitute a key step in understanding tympanal mechanics ingeneral, and in insects in particular, but also in our knowledge of the vibrational behaviour ofanisotropic media.
ORCID iDs
Windmill, J.F.C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4878-349X, Bockenhauer, S. and Robert, D.;-
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Item type: Article ID code: 19379 Dates: DateEvent6 December 2008PublishedSubjects: Technology > Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering Department: Faculty of Engineering > Electronic and Electrical Engineering Depositing user: Strathprints Administrator Date deposited: 02 Jun 2010 15:28 Last modified: 25 Oct 2024 00:17 URI: https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/19379