Biophysical Aspects of Sound Communication in Insects

Abstract

Publisher Summary The last decades has seen an increasing interest in the sound communication of insects. Much information has been accumulated in “classical” fields, such as the anatomy of sound-producing and sound-receiving structures, the analysis of sounds, acoustic behavior, and hexing. This chapter concentrates on the biophysical aspects of sound communication. Both the sound-producing mechanisms and the sound-receiving structures have evolved independently in a number of insects. The main problem of bioengineering in insect sound communication is that of matching the impedances of the sound transmitter, the medium, and the sound receptor. This problem is similar to the impedance matching of electrical equipment: For the transmission to be efficient, the output impedance of the sender should be low, compared with the input impedance of the receiver. In sound emission, the mechanical impedance of the transmitter (the vibrating parts of the insect) should be low, compared with that of the air (the radiation impedance). In sound reception, the impedance of the air should be low, compared with that of the sound-receiving structure. The frequency range of insect sounds is limited, mainly by the impedance problem because the radiation impedance depends very much upon the size of the object relative to the wavelength of sound.