Main description:

Reptiles and birds have highly diverse hearing organs. Data on a huge amount of information concerning all aspects of structural, neurophysiological and anatomical aspects are reviewed as published up to mid-1988: in addition a good deal of yet unpublished data from the author's laboratory are included. The literature on hearing is scattered through a great variety of zoological, medical, psychological, psychoacoustical and bioengineering journals: this book condenses all important findings in one source.

Contents:

1. Introduction.- 1.1 The Phylogeny of Reptiles and Birds.- 1.2 Systematics and the Inner Ear of Lizards.- 1.3 Cochlear Microphonics and the Inner Ear.- 2. Hair Cells and the Origin of the Hearing Inner Ear.- 2.1 Evolutionary Origin of the Inner Ear Sensory Epithelia.- 2.2 An Introduction to Hair Cells.- 2.2.1 The Hair Cell.- 2.2.2 Tectorial Membrane and Hair Cell Environment.- 2.2.3 Polarization of the Hair Cell.- 2.2.4 Hair Cell Innervation.- 2.3 Electroreceptors.- 2.4 Properties of Hair Cells of the Frog Sacculus.- 2.4.1 Resting Potential and Transduction Currents.- 2.4.2 An Electrical Resonance in Saccular Hair Cells.- 3. The Middle Ear.- 3.1 Origin of the Middle Ear.- 3.2 Pathways of Sound to the Inner Ear.- 3.3 General Functional Considerations.- 3.3.1 Factors Involved in Impedance Matching.- 3.3.2 Disadvantage of the Second-order Lever System.- 3.3.3 The Middle Ear of Modern Reptiles and Birds: Structure.- 3.3.4 The Middle Ear of Modern Reptiles and Birds: Function.- 3.3.4.1 The Amplifying Effect of the Middle Ear.- 3.3.4.2 Transfer Characteristics of Bird and Reptile Middle Ear.- 3.4 The Middle Ear as a Pressure-gradient Receiver.- 4. General Anatomical Considerations: Inner Ear and Basilar Papilla.- 4.1 Otic Labyrinth and Cochlear Duct.- 4.2 The Tectorial Membrane.- 4.3 The Basilar Papilla.- 4.3.1 The Primitive Basilar Papilla.- 4.3.2 The Evolution of the Basilar Papilla.- 4.3.3 The Variety and Evolution of the Lizard Papilla.- 4.3.4 Innervation Patterns of the Basilar Papilla.- 5. Some Techniques Used in Hearing Research.- 5.1 Obtaining Reptiles.- 5.2 Anaesthesia and Surgery.- 5.3 Acoustic Stimulation.- 5.4 Measuring the Motion of Middle- and Inner Ear Structures.- 5.5 Recording the Electrical Activity of the Ear.- 5.6 Marking of Hair Cells and Nerve Fibres.- 5.7 Measuring Otoacoustic Emissions.- 5.8 Anatomical Studies of the Papilla.- 6. Turtles and Snakes.- 6.1 The Hearing Organ of the Red-eared Turtle Pseudemys (Chrysemys) scripta.- 6.1.1 The Turtle as an Experimental Preparation.- 6.1.2 Anatomy of the Papilla Basilaris.- 6.1.3 Electrical Activity of Hair Cells.- 6.1.3.1 Tuning Properties of Hair Cells.- 6.1.3.2 Ionic Basis of Electrical Tuning.- 6.1.3.3 Efferent Effects on Hair Cells.- 6.1.4 Direct Stimulation of the Stereovillar Bundle.- 6.1.5 The Activity of Auditory-nerve Fibres.- 6.1.6 A Behavioural Audiogram for the Red-eared Turtle.- 6.2 The Hearing of Snakes.- 7. The Alligator Lizard and Granite Spiny Lizard.- 7.1 Anatomy of the Papilla Basilaris.- 7.1.1 The Papilla of the Alligator Lizard.- 7.1.2 The Papilla of the Granite Spiny Lizard.- 7.2 Recordings from Hair Cells.- 7.3 Activity of Primary Auditory-nerve Fibres.- 7.3.1 Auditory-nerve Fibres of the Alligator Lizard.- 7.3.2 Auditory-nerve Fibres of the Granite Spiny Lizard.- 7.4 Mechanics of the Basilar Papilla and Micromechanics of the Hair Cell Bundles.- 8. The European Lizards, Lacertidae: Podarcis sicula and Podarcis muralis.- 8.1 Anatomy of the Hearing Organ.- 8.2 Activity Patterns of Auditory-nerve Fibres.- 8.2.1 Spontaneous Activity.- 8.2.2 Activity in Response to Tones.- 9. The Monitor Lizard, Varanus bengalensis.- 9.1 Anatomy of the Basilar Papilla.- 9.2 Activity Patterns of Primary Auditory Fibres.- 10. The Hearing of Geckos.- 10.1 The Basilar Papilla of the Tokay Gecko, Gekko gecko.- 10.2 Activity of Afferent Auditory-nerve Fibres in Gekko.- 10.2.1 Spontaneous Activity.- 10.2.2 Responses to Tonal Stimulation.- 10.2.3 Responses to Species-specific Vocalizations.- 10.3 Temperature Effect on Tuning.- 11. The Bobtail Skink, Tiliqua rugosa.- 11.1 Anatomy of the Hearing Organ.- 11.2 Activity Patterns of Auditory-nerve Fibres.- 11.2.1 Tuning Properties.- 11.2.2 Tonotopic Organization of the Papilla.- 11.2.3 Discharge Patterns of Single Fibres.- 11.3 Basilar-membrane Mechanical Response and a Model of Frequency Tuning in Tiliqua.- 11.4 Seasonal Effects on Hearing.- 12. The Hearing of the Caiman, Caiman crocodilus.- 12.1 Anatomy of the Basilar Papilla.- 12.2 Mechanics of the Basilar Membrane.- 12.3 Otoacoustic Emissions from the Caiman Ear.- 12.4 Discharge Patterns of Primary Auditory-nerve Fibres.- 12.5 Effects of Temperature on Tuning.- 13. The Peripheral Hearing Organ of Birds.- 13.1 The Anatomy of the Cochlear Duct.- 13.1.1 The Sensory Hair Cells.- 13.1.2 Patterns in the Arrangement of Hair Cell Stereovillar Bundles.- 13.1.2.1 The Papilla of Starlings, Pigeons, and Chickens.- 13.1.2.2 The Papilla of the Barn Owl.- 13.1.2.3 Functional Implications of Variations in Papillar Anatomy.- 13.1.3 Innervation of Avian Hair Cells.- 13.2 Macromechanics of the Avian Cochlea.- 13.3 Otoacoustic Emissions from the Starling Cochlea.- 13.4 Activity of Auditory-nerve Fibres.- 13.4.1 Spontaneous Activity.- 13.4.2 Frequency Selectivity of Single Nerve Fibres.- 13.4.3 Tonotopicity and the Localization of Active Afferents.- 13.4.4 Ontogeny of the Tonotopic Organization.- 13.4.5 Discharge Patterns to Pure Tones.- 13.4.5.1 Firing Rates to Tonal Stimuli.- 13.4.5.2 Phase-locking to Tonal Stimuli.- 13.4.5.3 Primary and Two-tone Suppression.- 13.4.5.4 Temperature Effects.- 14. Overview and Outlook.- 14.1 The Middle Ear and the Hearing Range.- 14.2 The Hearing Range and Papillar Development.- 14.3 Patterns in Spontaneous Activity.- 14.4 The Functions of the Tectorial Membrane.- 14.5 Specialization of Hair Cell Populations.- 14.6 Hair Cell Types and Innervation in Lizards.- 14.7 Frequency Selectivity of Vertebrate Auditory Receptors.- 14.8 Tonotopic Organization and its Evolution in Lizards.- 14.9 Mechanisms of Frequency Selectivity.- 14.9.1 Electrical Tuning.- 14.9.2 Hair Cell Micromechanics.- 14.9.3 Interaction of Hair Cell Groups with the Tectorial Membrane.- 14.9.4 Interactions Between Hair Cells and Basilar Membrane.- 14.10 Below and Above 1 kHz.- References.