Discrimination of Complex Synthetic Echoes by an Echolocating Bottlenose Dolphin

Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) detect and discriminate underwater objects by interrogating the environment with their native echolocation capabilities. Study of dolphins' ability to detect complex (multihighlight) signals in noise suggest echolocation object detection using an approximate 265-microseconds energy integration time window sensitive to the echo region of highest energy or containing the highlight with highest energy. Backscatter from many real objects contains multiple highlights, distributed over multiple integration windows and with varying amplitude relationships. This study used synthetic echoes with complex highlight structures to test whether high-amplitude initial highlights would interfere with discrimination of low-amplitude trailing highlights. A dolphin was trained to discriminate two-highlight synthetic echoes using differences in the center frequencies of the second highlights. The energy ratio (DELTA dB) and the timing relationship (DELTA TAU) between the first and second highlights were manipulated. An iso-sensitivity function was derived using a factorial design testing DELTA dB at - 10, - 15-20, and -25 dB and AT at 10, 20,40, and 80 microseconds. The results suggest that the animal processed multiple echo highlights as separable analyzable features in the discrimination task, perhaps perceived through differences in spectral rippling across the duration of the echoes. Pub. in Journal of Acoustical Society of America, v113 n2, Feb 2003.