The Universal Sense (36 page)

⁵⁰
And not just in humans—remember that even frogs advertise.

⁵¹
If you are a very good thinker or very lucky.

⁵²
Pre-iPod.

⁵³
Groupies have always had a special place in the hearts of bands on the road.

⁵⁴
The dog you see in the video survived the experience.

⁵⁵
Which did, however, make me the inventor of a long-range device to use on protesting bats.

⁵⁶
You can get a similar visual display, called phosphenes, by rubbing your eyes in a dark room.

⁵⁷
This is probably about the level of distorted sound my amplifier put out in the event described in the introduction, hence the rather visceral effect.

⁵⁸
The downloadable sonar ruler iPhone app uses lower-frequency sounds giving a resolution of only a few inches—when it works.

⁵⁹
It’s not biologically impossible—electric fish use electric fields to communicate via specialized electro receptive sensors on their skin.

⁶⁰
Impedance is the opposition to a time-varying electric current, so it is similar to resistance. The higher the impedance of an electrode, the smaller the volume you are recording from, and hence the fewer neurons you will be able to record from.

Selected Sources and Suggested Readings

Chapter 1:
IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE BOOM

Fritzsch, B., Beisel, K. W., Pauley, S., and Soukup, G. “Molecular evolution of the vertebrate mechanosensory cell and ear.”
International Journal of Developmental Biology
. 51 (2007): 663–678.

Lewis, J. S.
Rain of iron and ice: The very real threat of comet and asteroid bombardment.
New York: Perseus Publishing, 1995.

Pieribone, V., Gruber, D. F., and Nasar, S.
Aglow in the Dark
. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2006.

Pradel, A., Langer, M., Maisey, J. G., Geffard-Kuriyama, D., Cloetens, P., Janvier, P., and Tafforeau, P. “Skull and brain of a 300-million-year-old chimaeroid fish revealed by synchrotron holotomography.”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA
. 106 (2009): 5224–5228.

Wilson, B., Batty, R. S., and Dill, L. M. “Pacific and Atlantic herring produce burst pulse sounds.”
Proceedings of Biological Sciences
. 271 supp. 3 (2004): S95–S97.

Chapter 2:
SPACES AND PLACES

Charles M. Salter Associates.
Acoustics: architecture, engineering, the environment
. San Francisco: William Stout Publishers, 1998.

China Blue. “What is the sound of the Eiffel Tower?”
Acoustics Today
. 5 (2009): 31–38.

Declercq, N. F., and Dekeyser, C. S. A. “Acoustic diffraction effects at the Hellenistic amphitheater of Epidaurus: Seat rows responsible for the marvelous acoustics.”
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
. 121 (2007): 2011–2022.

Chapter 3:
LISTENERS OF THE LOW END

Boatright-Horowitz, S. S., and Simmons, A. “Transient ‘deafness’ accompanies auditory development during metamorphosis from tadpole to frog.”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA
. 94 (1997): 14877–14882.

Boatright-Horowitz, S. L., Boatright-Horowitz, S. S., and Simmons, A. M. “Patterns of vocal interactions in a bullfrog (
Rana catesbeiana
) chorus. Preferential responding to far neighbors.”
Ethology
. 106 (2000): 701–712.

Mann, D. A., Higgs, D. M., Tavolga, W. N., Souza, M. J., and Popper, A. N. “Ultrasound detection by clupeiform fishes.”
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
. 109 (2001): 3048–54.

Simmons, A. M., Costa, L. M., and Gerstein, H. B. “Lateral line-mediated rheotaxis behavior in tadpoles of the African clawed frog (
Xenopus laevis
).”
Journal of Comparative Physiology A: Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology
. 190 (2004): 747–758.

Tobias, M. L., and Kelley, D. B. “Vocalizations by a sexually dimorphic isolated larynx: peripheral constraints on behavioral expression.”
Journal of Neuroscience
. 7 (1987): 3191–3197.

Weiss, B. A., Stuart, B. H., and Strother, W. F. “Auditory sensitivity in the
Rana catesbeiana
tadpole.”
Journal of Herpetology
. 7 (1973): 211–214.

Yamaguchi, A., and Kelley, D. B. “Generating sexually differentiated vocal patterns: Laryngeal nerve and EMG recordings
from vocalizing male and female African Clawed Frogs (
Xenopus laevis
).”
Journal of Neuroscience
. 20 (2000): 1559–1567.

Chapter 4:
THE HIGH-FREQUENCY CLUB

Dear, S. P., Simmons, J. A., and Fritz, J. “A possible neuronal basis for representation of acoustic scenes in auditory cortex of the big brown bat.”
Nature
. 364 (1993): 620–632.

Hiryu, S., Bates, M. E., Simmons, J. A., and Riquimaroux, H. “FM echolocating bats shift frequencies to avoid broadcast-echo ambiguity in clutter.”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA
. 107 (2010): 7048–7053.

Griffin, D. R.
Listening in the dark: The acoustic orientation of bats and men
. New York: Dover Press, 1974.

Horowitz, S. S., Stamper, S. A., and Simmons, J. A. “Neuronal connexin expression in the cochlear nucleus of big brown bats.”
Brain Research
. 1197 (2008): 76–84.

Chapter 5:
WHAT LIES BELOW

Aeschlimann, M., Knebel, J. F., Murray, M. M., and Clarke, S. “Emotional pre-eminence of human vocalizations.”
Brain Topography
. 20 (2008): 239–248.

Davis, M., Gendelman, D. S., Tischler, M. D., and Gendelman, P. M. “A primary acoustic startle circuit: Lesion and stimulation studies.”
Journal of Neuroscience
. 2 (1982): 791–805.

Emberson, L. L., Lupyan, G., Goldstein, M. H., and Spivey, M. J. “Overheard cell-phone conversations: When less speech is more distracting.”
Psychological Science
. 21 (2010): 1383–1388.

Halpern, D. L., Blake, R., and Hillenbrand, J. “Psychoacoustics of a chilling sound.”
Perception and Psychophysics
. 39 (1986): 77–80.

Hart, J. Jr., Crone, N. E., Lesser, R. P., Sieracki, J., Miglioretti, D. L., Hall, C, Sherman, D., and Gordon, B. “Temporal
dynamics of verbal object comprehension.”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA
. 95 (1998): 6498–6503.

King, L. E., Douglas-Hamilton, I., and Vollrath, F. “African elephants run from the sound of disturbed bees.”
Current Biology
. 17 (2007): R832–R833.

LeDoux, J.
The emotional brain: The mysterious underpinnings of emotional life
. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.

McDermott, J., and Hauser, M. “Are consonant intervals music to their ears? Spontaneous acoustic preferences in a nonhuman primate.”
Cognition
. 94 (2004): B11–B21.

Olds, J., and Milner, P. “Positive reinforcement produced by electrical stimulation of septal area and other regions of rat brain.”
Journal of Comparative Physiological Psychology
. 47 (1954): 419–427.

Paré, D., and Collins, D. R. “Neuronal correlates of fear in the lateral amygdala: Multiple extracellular recordings in conscious cats.”
Journal of Neuroscience
. 20 (2000): 2701–2710.

Pressnitzer, D., Sayles, M., Micheyl, C., and Winter, I. M. “Perceptual organization of sound begins in the auditory periphery.”
Current Biology
. 18 (2008): 1124–1128.

Ross, D., Choi, J., and Purves, D. “Musical intervals in speech.”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.
104 (2007): 9852–9857.

Shamma, S. A., and Micheyl, C. “Behind the scenes of auditory perception.”
Current Opinion in Neurobiology
. 20 (2010): 361–366.

Chapter 6:
TEN DOLLARS TO THE FIRST PERSON WHO CAN DEFINE “MUSIC” (AND GET A MUSICIAN, A PSYCHOLOGIST, A COMPOSER, A NEUROSCIENTIST, AND SOMEONE LISTENING TO AN IPOD TO AGREE…)

Bangerter, A., and Heath, C. “The Mozart effect: Tracking the evolution of a scientific legend.”
British Journal of Social Psychology.
43 (2004): 605–623.

Chabris, C.F. “Prelude or requiem for the Mozart effect?”
Nature.
400 (1999): 826–827.

Fritz, T., Jentschke, S., Gosselin, N., Sammler, D., Peretz, I., Turner, R., Friederici, A. D., and Koelsch, S. “Universal recognition of three basic emotions in music.”
Current Biology.
19 (2009): 573–576.

Grape, C., Sandgren, M., Hansson, L. O., Ericson, M., and Theorell, T. “Does singing promote well-being?: An empirical study of professional and amateur singers during a singing lesson.”
Integrative Physiological and Behavioral Sciences.
38 (2003): 65–74.

Harris, C. S., Bradley, R. J., and Titus, S. K. “A comparison of the effects of hard rock and easy listening on the frequency of observed inappropriate behaviors: Control of environmental antecedents in a large public area.”
Journal of Music Therapy.
29 (1992): 6–17.

Malmberg, C. F. “The perception of consonance and dissonance.”
Psychological Monographs.
25 (1918): 93–133.

Plomp, R., and Levelt, J. M. “Tonal consonance and critical bandwidth.”
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.
38 (1965): 548–560.

Rauscher, F. H., Shaw, G. L., and Ky, K. N. “Music and spatial task performance.”
Nature.
365 (1993): 611.

Seashore, C. E.
Psychology of music.
New York: Dover Publications, 1967.

Ventura, T., Gomes, M. C., and Carreira, T. “Cortisol and anxiety response to a relaxing intervention on pregnant women awaiting amniocentesis.”
Psychoneuroendocrinology.
37 (2012): 148–156.

Zattore, R. H. “Music and the brain.”
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
999 (2003): 4–14.

Chapter 7:
STICKY EARS

“The Use of Sound Effects.”
The Radio Times—BBC Yearbook
, 194. London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1931.

Szameitat, D. P., Kreifelts, B., Alter, K., Szameitat, A. J., Sterr, A., Grodd, W., and Wildgruber, D. “It is not always tickling: Distinct cerebral responses during perception of different laughter types.”
Neuroimage.
53 (2010): 1264–1271.

Meyer, M., Baunmann, S., Wildgruber, D., and Alter, K. “How the brain laughs: Comparative evidence from behavioral, electro-physiological and neuroimaging studies in human and monkey.”
Behavioural Brain Research.
182 (2007): 245–260.

Chapter 8:
HACKING YOUR BRAIN THROUGH YOUR EARS

Graybiel, A., and Knepton, J. “Sopite syndrome: A sometimes sole manifestation of motion sickness.”
Aviation Space and Environmental Medicine.
47 (1976): 873–882.

Gueguen, N., Jacob, C., Le Guellec, H., Morineau, T. and Loure, M. “Sound level of environmental music and drinking behavior: A field experiment with beer drinkers.”
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.
32 (2008): 1795–1798.
“Hell’s Bells.”
Maxim.
100th issue, 166. 2006.

Karino, S., Yumoto, M., Itoh, K., Uno, A., Yamakawa, K., Sekimoto, S., and Kaga, K. “Neuromagnetic responses to binaural beat in human cerebral cortex.”
Journal of Neurophysiology.
96 (2006): 1927–1938.

Klimesch, W. “EEG alpha and theta oscillations reflect cognitive and memory performance: A review and analysis.”
Brain Research: Brain Research Reviews
. 29 (1999): 169–195.

Lawson, B. D., and Mead, A. M. “The Sopite syndrome revisited: Drowsiness and mood changes during real and apparent motion.”
Acta Astronautica.
43 (1998): 181–192.

Rockloff, M. J., Signal, T., and Dyer, V. “Full of sound and fury, signifying something: The impact of autonomic arousal on EGM gambling.”
Journal of Gambling Studies.
23 (2007): 457–465.

Chapter 9:
WEAPONS AND WEIRDNESS