Absolute hearing thresholds and critical masking ratios in the European barn owl: a comparison with other owls

@article{Dyson1998AbsoluteHT,
  title={Absolute hearing thresholds and critical masking ratios in the European barn owl: a comparison with other owls},
  author={M. L Dyson and Georg Martin Klump and B Gauger},
  journal={Journal of Comparative Physiology A},
  year={1998},
  volume={182},
  pages={695-702}
}
Abstract Absolute thresholds and critical masking ratios were determined behaviorally for the European barn owl (Tyto alba guttata). It shows an excellent sensitivity throughout its hearing range with a minimum threshold of −14.2 dB sound pressure level at 6.3 kHz, which is similar to the sensitivity found in the American barn owl (Tyto alba pratincola) and some other owls. Both the European and the American barn owl have a high upper-frequency limit of hearing exceeding that in other bird… 
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83 Citations
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Methods Citations
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83 Citations

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Barn owls have ageless ears
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The auditory sensitivity of barn owls with respect to other species is discussed and it is suggested that birds, which generally show a remarkable capacity for regeneration of hair cells in the basilar papilla, are naturally protected from presbycusis.
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Data indicate a temporal resolution in the owl's auditory system that is good, but not unusual, compared to other vertebrates.
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It is suggested that the barn owl’s ears work as pressure receivers both in the high- and low-frequency ranges, with implications for the mechanism underlying sound localization.
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TLDR
It was found that pre-takeoff latency was longer for the latter stimulus than for baseline and that center frequency was a better predictor for landing precision than stimulus bandwidth, which fit well with what is known from head-turning studies and from neurophysiology.
HEARING IN THE RED-BILLED FIREFINCH LAGON O S TIC TA SENEGALA AND THE SPANISH TIMBRADO CANARY SERINUS CANARIA: THE INFLUENCE OF NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL SELECTION ON AUDITORY ABILITIES AND VOCAL STRUCTURE
TLDR
Critical ratios measured over a range of several octaves increased in a monotonie fashion at a rate of 2–3 dB per octave for both firefinches and timbrado canaries, suggesting spectral resolving abilities similar to most small birds tested to date.
Pupillary dilation response as an indicator of auditory discrimination in the barn owl
TLDR
The acoustically evoked pupillary dilation is a promising indicator of auditory discrimination requiring neither training nor aversive stimuli and was exploited to measure frequency and spatial discrimination.
Behavioral and neural auditory thresholds in a frog
TLDR
To have an appreciation for detection and salience of acoustic signals the authors must listen to those signals through the ears of the receivers, and 3 methods to assess such thresholds in túngara frogs are used.
Auditory brainstem responses in the Eastern Screech Owl: an estimate of auditory thresholds.
TLDR
The auditory brainstem response (ABR), a measure of neural synchrony, was used to estimate auditory sensitivity in the eastern screech owl and shows differences in overall auditory sensitivity between the color morphs of screech owls.
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