🚀 go-pugleaf

Deborah,
I wondered about that myself, especially after seeing the owls,
like a GHO, whose ear-head is really a parabolic reflector.
I know what happens to humans who use those parabolic reflectors
without special ciruitry to dampen the amplified sounds when
they get too loud.

Maybe the birds have a "mute" switch whenever they scream, they
turn down the audio amplifiers in their little heads?

How, as scientists, ahem, how do we test this?  See if the birds
can hear while they scream?  If they cannot hear as well when
screaming, then what?  How to test for that without the screaming
drowning out the hearing part of the test?

Better just concentrate on your exams and save this question
for your questioner:
Excuse, I have a much better question for you than you have for me...

Adam


'Gavia immer' Deborah Wisti-Peterson (nyneve@u.washington.edu) wrote:
: hello all. i am busily thinking up questions that seem to have no
: known answer (i am studying for my qualifying exams; thus thinking
: of impossible questions is part of my job description at the moment!). 
: certainly, these questions seem to have no easily accessible answers. 
: so i thought that there might be an expert out there who may be able 
: to help me find sources that will provide an aswer to one of my questions.

: since i spend much time around birds, i am amazed at the LOUDNESS of 
: their song...a 15 gram chickadee song really travels FAR (at least one
: city block)...and a screaming parrot is a real sound terrorist! so, i 
: want to know how birds can make such loud noises without making 
: themselves DEAF?

: -- 
:      Deborah Wisti-Peterson       email:nyneve@u.washington.edu
: Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
:     Visit me on the web: http://weber.u.washington.edu/~nyneve/
: =-=-=-Graduate School: it's not just a job, it's an indenture!=-=-=

nyneve@u.washington.edu ('Gavia immer' Deborah Wisti-Peterson) wrote:
>hello all. i am busily thinking up questions that seem to have no
>known answer (i am studying for my qualifying exams; thus thinking
>of impossible questions is part of my job description at the moment!). 
>certainly, these questions seem to have no easily accessible answers. 
>so i thought that there might be an expert out there who may be able 
>to help me find sources that will provide an aswer to one of my questions.
>
>since i spend much time around birds, i am amazed at the LOUDNESS of 
>their song...a 15 gram chickadee song really travels FAR (at least one
>city block)...and a screaming parrot is a real sound terrorist! so, i 
>want to know how birds can make such loud noises without making 
>themselves DEAF?
>
>-- 
>     Deborah Wisti-Peterson       email:nyneve@u.washington.edu
>Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
>    Visit me on the web: http://weber.u.washington.edu/~nyneve/
>=-=-=-Graduate School: it's not just a job, it's an indenture!=-=-=






I've never gone deaf from shouting, screaming or even using a megaphone. 
So why should birds be any different? The bird is broadcasting the sound
with the wave front radiating away from the bird's head and ears, not
towards them. So a self deafening pulse to the tympanic membrane is unlikely
without some external acoustic influence.

T.Kramer
Boulder, CO
tkramer@amgen.com


*** Disclaimer: These are the opinions of the poster not Amgen Inc.***

Adam Sundor wrote:
> 
> Deborah,
> I wondered about that myself, especially after seeing the owls,
> like a GHO, whose ear-head is really a parabolic reflector.
> I know what happens to humans who use those parabolic reflectors
> without special ciruitry to dampen the amplified sounds when
> they get too loud.
> 
> Maybe the birds have a "mute" switch whenever they scream, they
> turn down the audio amplifiers in their little heads?
> 
> How, as scientists, ahem, how do we test this?  See if the birds


Some time ago I read that even the human ears are protected to a certain extent against 
deafening noise if the person is using their voice at the same time the noise occurs.
Maybe this is the same mechanism protecting the birds or other animals.

Achim