Comparative auditory neuroscience: understanding the evolution and function of ears

GA Manley - Journal of the Association for Research in …, 2017 - Springer
Comparative auditory studies make it possible both to understand the origins of modern ears
and the factors underlying the similarities and differences in their performance. After all …

Past extinctions of Homo species coincided with increased vulnerability to climatic change

P Raia, A Mondanaro, M Melchionna, M Di Febbraro… - One Earth, 2020 - cell.com
At least six different Homo species populated the World during the latest Pliocene to the
Pleistocene. The extinction of all but one of them is currently shrouded in mystery, and no …

Language and human evolution

RG Klein - Journal of Neurolinguistics, 2017 - Elsevier
The fossil indications for speech, inferred from skull endocasts and from the anatomy of the
vocal tract, the vertebral column, and the bony ear, suggest that there was a grade shift from …

Spiral form of the human cochlea results from spatial constraints

M Pietsch, L Aguirre Dávila, P Erfurt, E Avci, T Lenarz… - Scientific reports, 2017 - nature.com
The human inner ear has an intricate spiral shape often compared to shells of mollusks,
particularly to the nautilus shell. It has inspired many functional hearing theories. The …

High-resolution frequency tuning but not temporal coding in the human cochlea

E Verschooten, C Desloovere, PX Joris - PLoS biology, 2018 - journals.plos.org
Frequency tuning and phase-locking are two fundamental properties generated in the
cochlea, enabling but also limiting the coding of sounds by the auditory nerve (AN). In …

Cochlear shape distinguishes southern African early hominin taxa with unique auditory ecologies

J Braga, C Samir, A Fradi, Y Feunteun, K Jakata… - Scientific Reports, 2021 - nature.com
Insights into potential differences among the bony labyrinths of Plio-Pleistocene hominins
may inform their evolutionary histories and sensory ecologies. We use four recently …

First evidence of the link between internal and external structure of the human inner ear otolith system using 3D morphometric modeling

CM Smith, IS Curthoys, JT Laitman - Scientific Reports, 2023 - nature.com
Our sense of balance is among the most central of our sensory systems, particularly in the
evolution of human positional behavior. The peripheral vestibular system (PVS) comprises …

The bony labyrinth of StW 573 (“Little Foot”): Implications for early hominin evolution and paleobiology

A Beaudet, RJ Clarke, L Bruxelles, KJ Carlson… - Journal of Human …, 2019 - Elsevier
Because of its exceptional degree of preservation and its geological age of∼ 3.67 Ma, StW
573 makes an invaluable contribution to our understanding of early hominin evolution and …

New fossils from Kromdraai and Drimolen, South Africa, and their distinctiveness among Paranthropus robustus

J Braga, G Chinamatira, B Zipfel, V Zimmer - Scientific Reports, 2022 - nature.com
Most fossil hominin species are sampled with spatial, temporal or anatomical biases that can
hinder assessments of their paleodiversity, and may not yield genuine evolutionary signals …

Morphology and function of Neandertal and modern human ear ossicles

A Stoessel, R David, P Gunz… - Proceedings of the …, 2016 - National Acad Sciences
The diminutive middle ear ossicles (malleus, incus, stapes) housed in the tympanic cavity of
the temporal bone play an important role in audition. The few known ossicles of Neandertals …