The evolution of vertebrate hearing is of considerable interest in the hearing community. However, there has never been a volume that has focused on the paleontological evidence for the evolution of hearing and the ear, especially from the perspective of some of the leading paleontologists and evolutionary biologists in the world. Thus, this volume is totally unique, and takes a perspective that has never been taken before. It brings to the fore some of the most recent discoveries among fossil taxa, which have demonstrated the sort of detailed information that can be derived from the fossil record, illuminating the evolutionary pathways this sensory system has taken and the diversity it had achieved.

The function of vertebrate hearing is served by a surprising variety of sensory structures in the different groups of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. This book discusses the origin, specialization, and functional properties of sensory hair cells, beginning with environmental constraints on acoustic systems and addressing in detail the evolutionary history behind modern structure and function in the vertebrate ear. Taking a comparative approach, chapters are devoted to each of the vertebrate groups, outlining the transition to land existence and the further parallel and independent adaptations of amniotic groups living in air. The volume explores in depth the specific properties of hair cells that allowed them to become sensitive to sound and capable of analyzing sounds into their respective frequency components. Evolution of the Vertebrate Auditory System is directed to a broad audience of biologists and clinicians, from the level of advanced undergraduate students to professionals interested in learning more about the evolution, structure, and function of the ear.

To develop a science of hearing that is intellectu The five-day conference was held at the Mote ally satisfying we must first integrate the diverse, Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida, May - extensive body of comparative research into an 24, 1990. The invited participants came from the evolutionary context. The need for this integra fields of comparative anatomy, physiology, biophys tion, and a conceptual framework in which it could ics, animal behavior, psychophysics, evolutionary be structured, were demonstrated in landmark biology, ontogeny, and paleontology. Before the papers by van Bergeijk in 1967 and Wever in 1974. conference, preliminary manuscripts of the invited However, not since 1965, when the American papers were distributed to all participants. This facilitated - even encouraged - discussions through Society of Zoologists sponsored an evolutionary conference entitled ''The Vertebrate Ear;' has there out the conference which could be called, among other things, "lively. " The preview of papers, along been a group effort to assemble and organize our current knowledge on the evolutionary-as with the free exchange of information and opinion, opposed to comparative-biology of hearing. also helped improve the quality and consistency of In the quarter century since that conference the final manuscripts included in this volume. there have been major changes in evolutionary In addition to the invited papers, several studies concepts (e. g. , punctuated equilibrium), in sys were presented as posters during evening sessions.

In this definitive work, Ernest Glen Wever establishes the evolutionary importance of the reptile ear as the origin of the higher type of auditory apparatus shared by man and the mammals. Tracing the development of the auditory receptor in the living reptiles, he examines the use of a variety of mechanisms and principles of action by that receptor. While some of the material in this book has appeared previously in journal articles, most of it is presented here for the first time. Basing this study on his twenty years of research at Princeton's Auditory Research Laboratories, Professor Wever treats in anatomical and functional detail the auditory mechanism in about 250 species and subspecies of reptiles. The anatomical treatment rests on dissections and histological examinations of the ears in serial section, and portrays the relevant features in drawings that represent particular views of reconstructions. The author evaluates the performance of thesse ears electrophysiologically, in terms of the electrical potentials of the cochlea, paying particular attention to problems of the transmission of vibrations inward to the cochlea and the actions there in stimulating the sensory cells. Professor Wever finds that the cochlea emerged independently from the non-auditory labyrinth in three different vertebrate groups: fishes, amphibians, and reptiles. It was among the reptiles, however, that the vertebrate ear took on a more advanced configuration from which it further evolved along separate lineages in the birds and mammals. Ernest Glen Wever is Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Princeton University. Originally published in 1978. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Based on a workshop held at the University of Bielefeld in Germany in March 1986, this book presents the work of researchers from a diversity of fields, from neuroanatomy to behavioural ecology, covering the anatomy, physiology and behavioural correlates of the auditory system in the vertebrate class amphibia. It summarizes all aspects of the amphibian auditory system, reviewing current knowledge of the structure, function and evolution of this sensory system, and offers new contributions to our understanding of this subject. Chapters discuss amphibian phylogeny, the anatomy and physiology of the peripheral auditory system, the anatomy and physiology of central auditory areas, specialized topics in sound localization, the development of the amphibian auditory system (including changes that occur during metamorphosis), acoustic communication in anurans, selected topics in the evolution of amphibian and vertebrate audition, and others aspects.