A. N. Popper – författare

Cetaceans inhabit oceans, seas and even some rivers throughout the world. Hearing and sound production are thought to serve crucial functions in the behavior, natural history or life cycle of all of these animals. Although difficulties in studying large aquatic animals have limited experimental auditory research on many species, knowledge about the acoustic behavior of these animals has been increasing dramatically. In this volume, experts in different areas of the field provide an overview of the bioacoustics of whales and dolphins as well as a thorough introduction to the subject for investigators of hearing in other animals. Topics covered include the structure and function of cetacean auditory systems, the unique sound production system of odontocetes, acoustic communication, psychoacoustics, echolocation and models of sound propagation.

The Springer Handbook of Auditory Research presents a series of com­ prehensive and synthetic reviews of the fundamental topics in modern auditory research. It is aimed at all individuals with interests in hearing research including advanced graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and clinical investigators. The volumes will introduce new investigators to important aspects of hearing science and will help established inves­ tigators to better understand the fundamental theories and data in fields of hearing that they may not normally follow closely. Each volume is intended to present a particular topic comprehensively, and each chapter will serve as a synthetic overview and guide to the literature. As such, the chapters present neither exhaustive data reviews nor original research that has not yet appeared in peer-reviewed journals. The series focusses on topics that have developed a solid data and con­ ceptual foundation rather than on those for which a literature is only beginning to develop. New research areas will be covered on a timely basis in the series as they begin to mature.

The past two decades have seen an extraordinary growth of interest in the auditory mechanisms of a wide range of vertebrates and invertebrates. Investigations have ranged from auditory mechanisms in relatively simple animals where just a few cells are em­ ployed for detection of sound, to the highly complex detection and processing systems of man and the other mammals. Of particular significance to us has been the growing interest in general principles of vertebrate auditory system organization, as opposed to a specific and limited concern for the mammalian or even human systems. Some of the interest in nonmammalian systems has risen from the desire to fmd simpler experi­ mental models for both the essential components (e. g. , the hair cell receptor) and the more complex functions (e. g. , frequency analysis) of all vertebrate auditory systems. Interest has also risen from questions about the evolution of hearing and the covariation (or lack of it) in structure and function in a wide variety of biological solutions to the problems of acoustic mechanoreception. Of course, the desire to fmd simpler experi­ mental models and the need to answer questions about the evolution of hearing are not unrelated. In fact, detailed analyses of a variety of systems have led several times to the realization that some of the "simple systems" are more complex than initially thought.