Sound pressure and particle acceleration audiograms in three marine fish species from the Adriatic Sea

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America Vol. 126; no. 4; pp. 2100 - 2107
• Main Authors: Wysocki, Lidia Eva, Codarin, Antonio, Ladich, Friedrich, Picciulin, Marta
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Melville, NY Acoustical Society of America 01-10-2009; American Institute of Physics
• Subjects: Acoustic Stimulation; Acoustics; Air Sacs - physiology; Animals; Auditory Threshold - physiology; Chromis chromis; Ear, Inner - physiology; Evoked Potentials, Auditory; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Gobius cruentatus; Hearing - physiology; Hearing Tests; Marine; Oceans and Seas; Perciformes - physiology; Physics; Pressure; Sciaena umbra; Sound; Species Specificity; Umbra; Underwater sound; MED, Adriatic Sea; Vertebrata; Hearing; Particle acceleration; Underwater acoustics; Pisces
• ISSN: 0001-4966; 1520-8524
• DOI: 10.1121/1.3203562

Fishes show great variability in hearing sensitivity, bandwidth, and the appropriate stimulus component for the inner ear (particle motion or pressure). Here, hearing sensitivities in three vocal marine species belonging to different families were described in terms of sound pressure and particle acceleration. In particular, hearing sensitivity to tone bursts of varying frequencies were measured in the red-mouthed goby
Gobius cruentatus
, the Mediterranean damselfish
Chromis chromis
, and the brown meagre
Sciaena umbra
using the non-invasive auditory evoked potential-recording technique. Hearing thresholds were measured in terms of sound pressure level and particle acceleration level in the three Cartesian directions using a newly developed miniature pressure-acceleration sensor. The brown meagre showed the broadest hearing range (up to
3000
Hz
) and the best hearing sensitivity, both in terms of sound pressure and particle acceleration. The red-mouthed goby and the damselfish were less sensitive, with upper frequency limits of 700 and
600
Hz
, respectively. The low auditory thresholds and the large hearing bandwidth of
S. umbra
indicate that sound pressure may play a role in
S. umbra's
hearing, even though pronounced connections between the swim bladder and the inner ears are lacking.