Paper

The acoustic near-field measurement of aye-ayes' biological auditory system utilizing a biomimetic robotic tap-scanning

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Published 7 July 2020 © 2020 IOP Publishing Ltd
, , Citation Hamidreza Nemati and Ehsan Dehghan-Niri 2020 Bioinspir. Biomim. 15 056003 DOI 10.1088/1748-3190/ab98de

1748-3190/15/5/056003

Abstract

The aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) is best known for its unique acoustic-based foraging behavior called 'tap-scanning' or 'percussive foraging'. The tap-scanning is a unique behavior allowing aye-aye to locate small cavities beneath tree bark and extract wood-boring larvae from it. The tap-scanning requires the animal auditory system to have exceptional acoustic near-field sensitivity. This paper has experimentally investigated the effects of external pinna in the acoustic sensing and detection capabilities of aye-ayes. To experimentally evaluate the effects of external ear (pinna) of the aye-aye, the tap-scanning process was simulated using a robotic arm. A pinna was 3D printed using a CT scan obtained from a carcass. The pinna's effect on the acoustic near-field has been evaluated in time and frequency domains for simulated tap-scanning with the pinna in upright and cupped positions. This idea originates from behavioral observations of the aye-aye using its ears in this way. The results suggest that the aye-aye can substantially enhance its acoustic near-field sensitivity through a cupped conformation during tap-scanning. Three phenomena contribute to this substantial enhancement of the acoustic near-field: (i) a considerable increase in the signal-to-noise ratio, (ii) the creation of a focal area and potentially a focal point to increase the spatial resolution, and (iii) an increase in the receiver peak frequency by changing near-field beam pattern for higher frequencies that can result in greater sensitivity due to a smaller wavelength.

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