Frog Hearing and Communication - Applications of Frog Neuroethology

Applications of Frog Neuroethology

Dr. Feng’s work applies the neuroethology of frog communication to medicine. A recent project on hearing aids is based on how female frogs find their mates. Females must recognize the male they choose by his call. By localizing where his call is coming from she can find him. An additional challenge is that she is localizing his call while listening to the many other frogs in the chorus, and to the noise of the stream and insects. The breeding pond is a very noisy place, and females must distinguish a male’s calls from the other noise. How they recognize the sound pattern of the male they are pursuing from the surrounding noise is similar to how intelligent hearing aids help people hear certain sounds and cancel out others. The underlying neural mechanisms are fast neural oscillations, and synaptic inhibition to cancel out noise. The timing and frequency of the sound also play a part in frog communication and may be used in Feng’s work. He also studies bat echolocation to create intelligent hearing aids. He is also working on cochlear implants.