spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hetherington, T. E.
Right arrow Articles by Lombard, R. E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hetherington, T. E.
Right arrow Articles by Lombard, R. E.

Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol 98, Issue 1 49-66, Copyright © 1982 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Biophysics of underwater hearing in anuran amphibians

TE Hetherington and RE Lombard

A standing wave tube apparatus was used to determine the biophysical basis of underwater hearing sensitivity in 3 species of Rana and in Xenopus laevis. A speaker inside the base of a vertical, water-filled 3 m steel pipe produced standing waves. Pressure and particle motion were measured with a hydrophone and geophone respectively and were spatially 90 degrees out of phase along the length of the tube. Microphonic responses were recorded from the inner ear of frogs lowered through pressure and particle motion maxima and minima. The air-filled lungs of whole frogs produced distortions of the sound field. Preparations of heads with only an air-filled middle ear produced little distortion and showed clear pressure tracking at sound intensities 10-20 dB above hearing thresholds from 200-3000 Hz. Filling the middle ear with water decreased or abolished microphonic responses. Severing the stapes reduced responses except at certain frequencies below about 1000 Hz which varied with body size and likely represent resonant frequencies of the middle ear cavity. We conclude that the frog species examined respond to underwater sound pressure from about 200-3000 Hz with the middle ear cavity responsible for pressure transduction.


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
M. J. Mason and P. M. Narins
Vibrometric studies of the middle ear of the bullfrog Rana catesbeiana II. The operculum
J. Exp. Biol., October 15, 2002; 205(20): 3167 - 3176.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
A Elepfandt, I Eistetter, A Fleig, E Gunther, M Hainich, S Hepperle, and B Traub
Hearing threshold and frequency discrimination in the purely aquatic frog Xenopus laevis (Pipidae): measurement by means of conditioning
J. Exp. Biol., January 12, 2000; 203(23): 3621 - 3629.
[Abstract] [PDF]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 1982