Ambient Noise May Impact Parent-offspring Communication
Saturday, February 25, 2012 - 03:50
in Psychology & Sociology
To understand why anthropogenic noise has the potential to negatively impact animals--a topic visited often here on Anthrophysis--it’s helpful to know a bit about signal detection theory (SDT). Developed by bioacoustician extraordinaire Haven Wiley, SDT recognizes that it can be biologically costly either to miss an important signal or to respond to one that you shouldn’t. The presence of anthropogenic noise makes the former scenario more likely because it threatens to mask relevant sounds. Animals may react to this by “lowering their response threshold,” or responding more readily to any sound that seems remotely important—thus leading to the latter scenario. Both can have serious negative implications. read more