Sound localization and the use of binaural cues by the gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus

Noise-localization thresholds and the ability to localize pure tones at 60 * separation were determined for gerbils. The gerbils were trained using a two-choice procedure with observing response in which the gerbils made a left or right response to sounds emanating from their left or right side in order to obtain food. The average 75 % correct localization threshold of 7 gerbils for a 100-ms noise burst was 27 * with chance performance (p>.01) reached at 12". The ability of 4 gerbils to localize both low- and high-frequency pure tones indicates that gerbils are able to use both phase- and intensity-difference locus cues. The frequency at which tone localization was poorest was 2.8 kHz, well below the theoretical frequency of ambiguity of the phase cue but within the frequency range at which phase locking declines in the mammalian auditory system. The sound localization ability of gerbils is typical of small rodents, and there is no obvious ign that it is affected by the degenerative disorder of the central auditory system which has been recently discovered in gerbils. The Mongol ian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) has been recognized over the last decade as a useful subject for the study of auditory physiology and neuroanatomy (e.g., Dolan