Sound localization in pigeon (Columba livia).

Abstract

The presence of a binaurally activated nucleus (n. laminaris) in the hindbrain of birds suggests that they may be capable of binaural sound localization. Pigeons (C. livia) are capable of either homing or scanning for the source of a sound; of localizing a single burst of noise whose duration is too brief for homing or scanning; and of using either binaural time or intensity disparities for the localization of brief tones. They can localize a single tone-pip throughout their frequency range of hearing from 125 Hz-8 kHz but have considerable difficulty in their midfrequency range (1-2 kHz), and can localize a single brief burst of narrow band noise even in their midfrequency range. The capacity of pigeons to localize brief sounds and to use binaural disparity cues for doing so is not qualitatively different from that of mammals. N. laminaris or some similar brain stem nuclei in pigeon are probably analogous in their contribution to sound localization to the superior olivary complex in mammals.