Mechanisms of Sound Production by Echolocating Bats

1973/11/01 by RODERICK A. SUTHERS, Roderick A. Suthers, JAMES M. FATTU +1 · 93 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Environmental Science · Medicine · #Acoustics #Anatomy #Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior #Audiology #Bat Biology and Ecology Studies #Biology #Computer science #Eptesicus fuscus #Glottis #Human echolocation #Larynx #Marine animal studies overview #Medicine #Muscle tension #Phonation #Physics #Sound production #Speech production #Speech recognition #Zoology

paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/icb/13.4.1215

published in American Zoologist 13(4), 1215-1226 (Oxford University Press)

openalex publication_date 1973/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/26

Abstract

The echolocative pulses emitted at high repetition rates by bats pose a number of questions regarding the mechanism of their production. We have investigated some physiologic parameters of vocalization in the North American Vespertilionid bat Eptesicus fuscus, including pulse insertion within the respiratory cycle and subglottic pressure changes accompanying these intense sounds. Subglottic pressures are considerably higher than those characteristic of human speech and, therefore, require a substantial structure to act as a glottal stop. We suggest that this is the role of the vocal fold and that the thin, paired vocal and ventricular membranes are the ultrasonic generators. The cricothyroid muscle, which is thought to influence sound frequency by altering the tension on these membranes, contracts just prior to each ultrasonic vocalization and relaxes during phonation. Cricothyroid muscle relaxation may gradually decrease the tension on the membranes and create the downward frequency sweep characteristic of most pulses.

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