Journal
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
Volume 3, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/srep02489
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Funding
- NSF CAREER program [CMMI 0644914]
- NSF [CMMI 1200420]
- AFOSR Young Investigator program [FA95500810042]
- Directorate For Engineering
- Div Of Civil, Mechanical, & Manufact Inn [1200420] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The fly Ormia ochracea has the remarkable ability, given an eardrum separation of only 520 mm, to pinpoint the 5 kHz chirp of its cricket host. Previous research showed that the two eardrums are mechanically coupled, which amplifies the directional cues. We have now performed a mechanics and optimization analysis which reveals that the right coupling strength is key: it results in simultaneously optimized directional sensitivity and directional cue linearity at 5 kHz. We next demonstrated that this dual optimality is replicable in a synthetic device and can be tailored for a desired frequency. Finally, we demonstrated a miniature sensor endowed with this dual-optimality at 8 kHz with unparalleled sound localization. This work provides a quantitative and mechanistic explanation for the fly's sound-localization ability from a new perspective, and it provides a framework for the development of fly-ear inspired sensors to overcoming a previously-insurmountable size constraint in engineered sound-localization systems.
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