Marine Science honors 1.8

1.8

For this assignment, write two paragraphs in your own words that compare and contrast how you (humans) communicate with sound and how dolphins and other whales use sound in water. You may use information from the web sites to support your findings and explanations, but your work should be original. Some things you may wish to consider: Which medium (air or water) is more effective at transmitting sound waves? How does sound production differ between humans and dolphins? How does sound reception differ between humans and dolphins? What are similarities between the two?

Bottlenose dolphins communicate through specific unique whistles. The whistles are tonal sounds that will change frequency over time. Their signature whistle is used to show the identity and location of the animal that produced it. Each dolphin has a signature whistle which contains three loops but their unique loop shape differentiates each dolphin. Humans communicate through vocal sounds which are, phonation, resonation and articulation. Phonation is when the air pressure is when the air pressure is used to set the elastic folds into vibration which creates vibration, called voicing. The speed of sound in air is approximately 341 meters per second in contrast in water sound travels 1,524 meters per second. But the speed in distilled water can travel up to two to three times faster than in salt water. Many species of marine animals are blind so sound is vital to them because it lets them know what is surrounding them. Hearing is the universal alerting sense to all vertebrates. Marine animals and humans hear sounds the same way. Hearing is seperated into three basic divisions; the outer ear which collects and directs sound, the middle ear filters and amplifies the acoustic energy to the middle of the ear, the inner ear transforms the acoustic energy to electrical signals that are processed to the brain. Marine animals evolved from ancestors that has air-adapted ears.