required reading:
Mason AC, Oshinsky ML, Hoy RR. 2001. Hyperacute directional hearing in a microscale auditory system. Nature 410:686-690.
pdf-file

Questions:

BARRETT'S ELEMENTARY EAR QUERIES:
1) Why is it true that, with sound, the "smaller the receiver, the smaller the available cues?"
2) Why is Ormia ochracea's auditory physics "unfavourable," and how does she manage to excel in spite of this limitation?
3) Where in the world is it illegal to insert a penny in your ear? (help)
4) If you had the deranged urge to tether a fly to a randomly dotted ping-pong ball, how might you elicit movement of said fly? To what end?
5) By what two means were the dipteran manipulators of this Nature study able to measure the directional sensitivity of their flies?
6) If you were to wear headphones for one hour, by how many times would the number of bacteria increase in your ear?
7) How comparable were O. ochracea's interaural latency differences in auditory responses as a function of sound direction to those of her behavioral responses? (ie: did neurophysiological measures match up with behavioral recordings?)
8) Is timing really everything?
9) How many muscles are associated with a single cat ear?
10) A horse's?
11) What interlopers, other than O. ochracea, might exploit auditory cricket courting?
12) Why would both male and female O. ochracea flies have the capacity to hear ultrasound?
13) What creates the audible noise heard when placing a seashell to one's ear? (help)

PDF-file of power-point lecture (about 1.9 MB)

optional background reading:

Robert D, Miles RN, Hoy RR. 1998. Tympanal mechanics in the parasititoid fly Ormia ochracea: intertympanal coupling during mechanical vibration. J comp Physiol A 183: 443-452. pdf-file
Hoy RR, Robert D. 1996. Tympanal hearing in insects. Annu Rev Entomol 41:433-450. (review paper) pdf-file
Oshinsky ML, Hoy RR. 2002. Physiology of the Auditory Afferents in an Acoustic Parasitoid Fly.The J Neuroscience 22(16):7254–7263. pdf-file
Hoy RR, Popper AN, Fay RR (eds). 1998. Comparative Hearing: Insects. Springer.

Links:
Ormia's Ear on NPR
Laboratory of Bioacoustics and Sensory Biology
Andrew Mason's Lab
Singing insects of North America
Tim Forrest's page