2026/03/01 by Alexander L. Francis, Daniel J. Strauss · 1 voice
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Computer Science · Neuroscience · #Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior #Music Technology and Sound Studies #Neuroscience and Music Perception
paper · doi:10.1121/10.0042868
openalex publication_date 2026/03/01 · openalex created_date 2026/03/13 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
Modern soundscapes differ from those in which our auditory systems evolved. We examine the evolutionary history of two aspects of hominin hearing with implications for life in the Anthropocene. First, adaptations facilitating localization of and orientation toward environmental threats and opportunities are now overstimulated. Second, more recent adaptations arose specifically to facilitate engagement with multiple meaningful voices in socially coherent settings, and these systems are equally overmatched but for different reasons. Recognizing the implications of these adaptations and the challenges that they evoke invites a rethinking of listening effort and the design of auditory technologies-not to restore an idealized form of hearing, but to support the adaptive capacities of a system built for a very different acoustic world.