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Audiogram of the chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) from 2 Hz to 9 kHz

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Abstract

The pure-tone thresholds of four domestic female chickens were determined from 2 Hz to 9 kHz using the method of conditioned suppression/avoidance. At a level of 60 dB sound pressure level (re 20 μN/m2), their hearing range extends from 9.1 Hz to 7.2 kHz, with a best sensitivity of 2.6 dB at 2 kHz. Chickens have better sensitivity than humans for frequencies below 64 Hz; indeed, their sensitivity to infrasound exceeds that of the homing pigeon. However, when threshold testing moved to the lower frequencies, the animals required additional training before their final thresholds were obtained, suggesting that they may perceive frequencies below 64 Hz differently than higher frequencies.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Drs. Geoffrey Manley and Christopher Von Bartheld for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript and K. Marchetto for her help with the animals. The use of animals in this study was approved by the University of Toledo Animal Care and Use Committee.

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Correspondence to Henry E. Heffner.

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Hill, E.M., Koay, G., Heffner, R.S. et al. Audiogram of the chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) from 2 Hz to 9 kHz. J Comp Physiol A 200, 863–870 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-014-0929-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-014-0929-8

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