Moderate evidence for a Lombard effect in a phylogenetically basal primate

PeerJ

article

Christian Schopf¹  Sabine Schmidt¹  Elke Zimmermann¹ 

[1] Institute of Zoology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Foundation

关键词: Lombard effect;    Acoustic communication;    Vocalization;    Voice control;    Primate;    Mammal;    Evolution;    Noise;    Signal masking;    Plasticity;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.2328

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

When exposed to enhanced background noise, humans avoid signal masking by increasing the amplitude of the voice, a phenomenon termed the Lombard effect. This auditory feedback-mediated voice control has also been found in monkeys, bats, cetaceans, fish and some frogs and birds. We studied the Lombard effect for the first time in a phylogenetically basal primate, the grey mouse lemur, Microcebus murinus. When background noise was increased, mouse lemurs were able to raise the amplitude of the voice, comparable to monkeys, but they did not show this effect consistently across context/individuals. The Lombard effect, even if representing a generic vocal communication system property of mammals, may thus be affected by more complex mechanisms. The present findings emphasize an effect of context, and individual, and the need for further standardized approaches to disentangle the multiple system properties of mammalian vocal communication, important for understanding the evolution of the unique human faculty of speech and language.

【 授权许可】

CC BY