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Leg movement and hearing: biophysics and electrophysiology of the tympanal organ in Locusta migratoria

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Abstract

  1. 1.

    The oscillations of the tympanal membrane of Locusta migratoria were analysed by combined laser vibrometry and interferometry. Simultaneously the activity in the tympanal nerve was recorded extracellularly. The animal was stimulated by sound pulses and one of the hindlegs was passively moved in a sinusoidal manner simulating stridulation. These stimuli were applied separately and in combination.

  2. 2.

    Sound stimulation elicited high-frequency membrane oscillations, whereas leg movements induced slow rhythmic membrane displacements. During combined sound and movement stimulation these two types of oscillations superimposed without mutual interference.

  3. 3.

    The tympanal nerve responded to sound with well synchronized receptor activity. The leg movement elicited less synchronized, phase-coupled activity. During combined sound and movement stimulation the responses to the two types of stimuli interfered strongly.

  4. 4.

    The activity patterns of single receptor fibres and auditory interneurons were reanalysed from this point of view. The extent of synchronization of the receptors is found to be the major difference between the sound-induced and the movement-induced activation of the auditory system. A filter mechanism is postulated, consisting in the activation of some higher order auditory interneurons only by well-synchronized presynaptic activity, such as is induced by steeply rising sound pulses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. I. Zoologisches Institut der Universität Göttingen, Berliner Strasse 28, D-37073, Göttingen, Germany

    F. Lang & N. Elsner

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  1. F. Lang
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  2. N. Elsner
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Lang, F., Elsner, N. Leg movement and hearing: biophysics and electrophysiology of the tympanal organ in Locusta migratoria . J Comp Physiol A 175, 251–260 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00215120

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