Psychoacoustic Studies of Dolphin and Whale Hearing

Whales and dolphins have evolved in a sensory world very unlike our own. Although one can guess what the perceptions of a cetacean might be, it is impossible to “get inside a dolphins head” and experience what it must be like to hear sounds over 100kHz and discern fine details of the environment, conspecifics, and prey via echolocation. It is possible, however, using psychophysical techniques first developed for human measurements, to characterize some properties of cetacean perception and accurately measure the acoustic sensations that are experienced by whales and dolphins.