With few exceptions, laboratory studies of auditory masking in marine mammals have been limited to examining detection thresholds for simple tonal signals embedded in broadband noise. However, detection of a sound has little adaptive advantage without the knowledge of what produced the sound (recognition) and where the sound originated (localization). In the current study, a bottlenose dolphin's masked detection thresholds (energetic masking) and masked recognition thresholds (informational masking) were estimated for a variety of complex signals including dolphin vocalizations, frequency modulated signals, and a 10 kHz pure tone. Broadband noise types included recordings of natural sounds and computer generated sounds. Detection thresholds were estimated using a standard go, no-go adaptive staircase procedure. The same dolphin learned to associate whistle-like FM sounds with specific arbitrary objects using a three alternative, matching-to-sample (MTS) procedure. The dolphin's performance in the MTS task was then tested in the presence of the same masking noise types used in the detection task. Recognition thresholds were, on average, about 4 dB higher than detection thresholds for similar signal-noise conditions. The 4 dB difference is likely due to additional cognitive demands of recognition, including attention and pattern recognition.

1.
Au
,
W. W. L.
,
Branstetter
,
B. K.
,
Benoit-Bird
,
K. J.
, and
Kastelein
,
R. A.
(
2009
). “
Acoustic basis for fish prey discrimination by echolocating dolphins and porpoises
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
126
,
460
467
.
2.
Au
,
W. W. L.
, and
Hammer
,
C.
(
1978
). “
Analysis of target recognition via echolocation by an Atlantic bottlenose porpoise (Tursiops truncatus)
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
64
,
S87
.
3.
Au
,
W. W. L.
, and
Moore
,
P. W. B.
(
1990
). “
Critical ratio and critical bandwidth for the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
88
,
1635
1638
.
4.
Au
,
W. W. L.
, and
Pawloski
,
D. A.
(
1992
). “
Cylinder wall thickness difference discrimination by an echolocating Atlantic bottlenose dolphin
,”
J. Comp. Physiol. A
170
,
41
47
.
5.
Au
,
W. W. L.
, and
Penner
,
R. H.
(
1981
). “
Target detection in noise by echolocating Atlantic bottlenose dolphins
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
70
,
687
693
.
6.
Benoit-Bird
,
K. J.
, and
Au
,
W. W. L.
(
2009
). “
Phonation behavior of cooperatively foraging spinner dolphins
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
125
,
539
546
.
7.
Blomqvist
,
C.
, and
Amundin
,
M.
(
2004
). “
High-frequency burst-pulse sounds in agonistic/aggressive interactions in bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus
,” in
Echolocation in Bats and Dolphins
, edited by
J. A.
Thomas
,
C. F.
Moss
, and
M.
Vater
(
University of Chicago Press
,
Chicago
), pp.
425
431
.
8.
Branstetter
,
B. K.
,
DeLong
,
C. M.
,
Dziedzic
,
B.
,
Black
,
A.
, and
Bakhtiari
,
K.
(
2016
). “
Recognition of frequency modulated whistle-like sounds by a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and humans with transformations in amplitude, duration and frequency
,”
PLoS One
11
(
2
),
e0147512
.
9.
Branstetter
,
B. K.
, and
Finneran
,
J. J.
(
2008
). “
Comodulation masking release in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
124
,
625
633
.
10.
Branstetter
,
B. K.
,
Mercado
,
E.
, III
, and
Au
,
W. W. L.
(
2007
). “
Representing multiple discrimination cues in a computational model of the bottlenose dolphin auditory system
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
122
,
2459
2468
.
11.
Branstetter
,
B. K.
,
Tormey
,
M. N.
,
Sloan
,
M. R.
,
Aihara
,
H. S.
,
Green
,
L. S.
,
Dear
,
R. L.
, and
Finneran
,
J. J.
(
2009
). “
Directional properties of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) whistle, burst-pulse and click sounds
,” presented at the
5th Animal Sonar Symposium
, Kyoto, Japan (September 14–18, 2009).
12.
Branstetter
,
B. K.
,
Trickey
,
J. S.
,
Aihara
,
H.
,
Finneran
,
J. J.
, and
Liberman
,
T. R.
(
2013a
). “
Time and frequency metrics related to auditory masking of a 10 kHz tone in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
134
,
4556
4565
.
13.
Branstetter
,
B. K.
,
Trickey
,
J. S.
,
Bakhtiari
,
K.
,
Black
,
A.
,
Aihara
,
H.
, and
Finneran
,
J. J.
(
2013b
). “
Auditory masking patterns in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) with natural, anthropogenic, and synthesized noise
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
133
,
1811
1818
.
14.
Bregman
,
A. S.
(
1990
).
Auditory Scene Analysis: The Perceptual Organization of Sound
(
The MIT Press
,
Cambridge, MA)
.
15.
Caldwell
,
M. C.
, and
Caldwell
,
D. K.
(
1965
). “
Individualized whistle contours in bottlenosed dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)
,”
Nature
207
,
434
435
.
16.
Caldwell
,
M. C.
, and
Caldwell
,
D. K.
(
1971
). “
Statistical evidence for individual signature whistles in Pacific Whitesided Dolphins, Lagenorhynchus obliquidens
,”
Cetology
3
,
1
9
.
17.
Caldwell
,
M. C.
,
Caldwell
,
D. K.
, and
Miller
,
J. F.
(
1973
). “
Statistical evidence for individual signature whistles in the spotted dolphin, Stenella plagiodon
,”
Cetology
16
,
1
21
.
18.
Caldwell
,
M. C.
,
Caldwell
,
D. K.
, and
Tyack
,
T. L.
(
1990
). “
Review of the signature-whistle hypothesis for the Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin
,” in
The Bottlenose Dolphin
, edited by
S.
Leatherwood
and
R. R.
Reeves
(
Academic
,
San Diego
), pp.
199
234
.
19.
Clark
,
C. W.
,
Ellison
,
W. T.
,
Southall
,
B. L.
,
Hatch
,
L.
,
Van Parijs
,
S. M.
,
Frankel
,
A.
, and
Ponirakis
,
D.
(
2009
). “
Acoustic masking in marine ecosystems: Intuitions, analysis, and implication
,”
Marine Ecol. Prog. Ser.
395
,
201
222
.
20.
Cunningham
,
K. A.
,
Southall
,
B. L.
, and
Reichmuth
,
C.
(
2014
). “
Auditory sensitivity of seals and sea lions in complex listening scenarios
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
136
,
3410
3421
.
21.
Dooling
,
R. J.
,
West
,
E. W.
, and
Leek
,
M. R.
(
2009
). “
Conceptual and computational models of the effects of anthropogenic noise on birds
,”
Proc. Inst. Acoust.
31
,
99
106
.
22.
Esch
,
H. C.
,
Sayigh
,
L. S.
, and
Wells
,
R. S.
(
2009
). “
Quantifying parameters of bottlenose dolphin signature whistles
,”
Marine Mammal Sci.
25
,
976
986
.
23.
Gellerman
,
L. W.
(
1933
). “
Chance orders of alternating stimuli in visual discrimination experiments
,”
J. Genet. Psychol.
42
,
206
208
.
24.
Harley
,
H. E.
(
2008
). “
Whistle discrimination and categorization by the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus): A review of the signature whistle framework and a perceptual test
,”
Behav. Process.
77
,
243
268
.
25.
Herman
,
L. M.
,
Richards
,
D. G.
, and
Wolz
,
J. P.
(
1984
). “
Comprehension of sentences by bottlenosed dolphins
,”
Cognition
16
,
129
219
.
26.
Houser
,
D. S.
, and
Finneran
,
J. J.
(
2006
). “
Variation in the hearing sensitivity of a dolphin population obtained through the use of evoked potential audiometry
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
120
,
4090
4099
.
27.
Hoy
,
R.
,
Nolen
,
T.
, and
Brodfueher
,
P.
(
1989
). “
The neuroethology of acoustic startle and escape in flying insects
,”
J. Exp. Biol.
146
,
287
306
.
28.
Irino
,
T.
, and
Patterson
,
R. D.
(
2001
). “
A compressive gammachirp auditory filter for both physiological and psychophysical data
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
109
,
2008
2022
.
29.
Janik
,
V. M.
,
Dehnhardt
,
G.
, and
Todt
,
D.
(
1994
). “
Signature whistle variations in a bottlenosed dolphin, Tursiops truncatus
,”
Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol.
35
,
243
248
.
30.
Janik
,
V. M.
,
Sayigh
,
L. S.
, and
Wells
,
R. S.
(
2006
). “
Signature whistle shape conveys identity information to bottlenose dolphins
,”
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
103
,
8293
8297
.
31.
Janik
,
V. M.
, and
Slater
,
P. J. B.
(
1998
). “
Context-specific use suggests that bottlenose dolphin signature whistles are cohesion calls
,”
Anim. Behav.
56
,
829
838
.
32.
Jensen
,
F. H.
,
Beedholm
,
K.
,
Wahlberg
,
M.
,
Bejder
,
L.
, and
Madsen
,
P. T.
(
2012
). “
Estimating communication range and energetic cost of bottlenose dolphin whistles in a tropical habitat
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
131
,
582
592
.
33.
Kastak
,
C. R.
, and
Schusterman
,
R. J.
(
2002
). “
Sea lions and equivalence: Expanding classes by exclusion
,”
J. Exp. Anal. Behav.
78
,
449
465
.
34.
King
,
S. L.
, and
Janik
,
V. M.
(
2015
). “
Come dine with me: Food-associated social signaling in wild bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)
.”
Anim. Cogn.
18
,
969
974
.
35.
Lammers
,
M. O.
, and
Au
,
W. W. L.
(
2003
). “
Directionality in the whistles of Hawaiian spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris): A signal feature to cue direction of movement?
,”
Marine Mammal Sci.
19
,
249
264
.
36.
Lammers
,
M. O.
,
Au
,
W. W. L.
, and
Herzing
,
D. L.
(
2003
). “
The broadband social acoustic signaling behavior of spinner and spotted dolphins
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
114
,
1629
1639
.
37.
Lemonds
,
D. W.
(
1999
). “
Auditory filter shapes in an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)
,” Ph.D. thesis, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI.
38.
Levitt
,
H.
(
1971
). “
Transformed up-down methods in psyhcoacoustics
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
49
,
467
477
.
39.
Moore
,
B. C. J.
(
1993
). “
Frequency analysis and pitch perception
,” in
Human Psychophysics
, edited by
W. A.
Yost
,
A. N.
Popper
, and
R. R.
Fay
(
Springer-Verlag
,
New York)
, pp.
56
115
.
40.
Mulsow
,
J. L.
, and
Reichmuth
,
C.
(
2010
). “
Psychophysical and electrophysiological aerial audiograms of a Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus)
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
127
,
2692
2701
.
41.
Neff
,
D. L.
(
1995
). “
Signal properties that reduce masking by simultanious, random-frequency maskers
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
98
,
1909
1920
.
42.
Neff
,
D. L.
, and
Green
,
D. M.
(
1987
). “
Masking produced by spectral uncertainty with multicomponent maskers
,”
Percept. Psychophys.
41
,
409
415
.
43.
Nelken
,
I.
,
Rotman
,
Y.
, and
Bar Yosef
,
O.
(
1999
). “
Response of auditory-cortex neurons to structural features of natural sounds
,”
Nature
397
,
154
157
.
44.
Parks
,
S. E.
,
Miksis-Olds
,
J. L.
, and
Denes
,
S. L.
(
2014
). “
Assessing marine ecosystem acoustic diversity across ocean basins
,”
Ecol. Inf.
21
,
81
88
.
45.
Patterson
,
R. D.
(
1976
). “
Auditory filter shapes derived with noise stimuli
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
59
,
640
654
.
46.
Pollack
,
I.
(
1975
). “
Auditory informational masking
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
57
,
S5
.
47.
Richardson
,
W. J.
,
Greene
,
C. R.
,
Malme
,
C. I.
, and
Thomson
,
D. H.
(
1995
).
Marine Mammals and Noise
(
Academic
,
New York)
.
48.
Sayigh
,
L. S.
,
Tyack
,
P. L.
,
Wells
,
R. S.
,
Solows
,
A. R.
,
Scott
,
M. D.
, and
Irvine
,
A. B.
(
1998
). “
Individual recognition in wild bottlenose dolphins: A field test using playback experiments
,”
Anim. Behav.
57
,
41
50
.
49.
Schlundt
,
C. E.
,
Dear
,
R. L.
,
Green
,
L.
,
Houser
,
D. S.
, and
Finneran
,
J. J.
(
2007
). “
Simultaneously measured behavioral and electrophysiological hearing thresholds in a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
122
,
615
622
.
50.
Slaney
,
M.
(
1993
). “
An efficient implementation of the Patterson-Holdsworth filter bank
,”
Apple Computer Technical Report No. 35
.
51.
Southall
,
B.
,
Berkson
,
J.
,
Bowen
,
D.
,
Brake
,
R.
,
Eckman
,
J.
,
Field
,
J.
,
Gisiner
,
R.
,
Gregerson
,
S.
,
Lang
,
W.
,
Lewandoski
,
J.
,
Wilson
,
J.
, and
Winokur
,
R.
(
2009
). “
Addressing the effects of human-generated sound on marine life: An integrated research plan for U.S. federal agencies
,” Interagency Task Force on Anthropogenic Sound and the Marine Environment of the Joint Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology, Washington, DC.
52.
Trickey
,
J. S.
,
Branstetter
,
B. K.
, and
Finneran
,
J. J.
(
2010
). “
Auditory masking of a 10 kHz tone with environmental, comodulated, and Gaussian noise in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
128
,
3799
3804
.
53.
Van Parijs
,
S. M.
, and
Corkeron
,
P. J.
(
2001
). “
Evidence for signature whistle production by a Pacific humpback dolphin, Sousa chinensis
,”
Marine Mammal Sci.
17
,
944
949
.
You do not currently have access to this content.