The authors of the new work came to the conclusion that spiders use their webs like one big “ear” that
Scientists know that spiders respond to vibrationsin the web, which signal, for example, potential prey. But the authors of the new work have expanded this knowledge and stated that the spiders turn, squat or flatten in response to sounds.
One strand of spider silk is so thin andsensitive, which can capture the movement and vibrations of the air, which make up just one sound wave. The human eardrum works differently.
In the study, the authors used anechoicThe chamber is a completely soundproofed room. Scientists forced spiders to spin webs inside a rectangular frame so they could position it wherever they wanted. Next, the researchers started generating different sounds to see how the spiders reacted. The team started by using a pure sound signal at a distance of 3 meters: they played different levels of sound to see whether the spiders reacted or not.
The authors were surprised to find that spiders canrespond to sound levels up to 68 decibels. And if it was louder, the spiders behaved differently. Then the scientists positioned the sound source at a 45-degree angle to see if the response changed. They found that spiders not only localize the source of sound, but can also determine its direction with 100% accuracy.
To better understand the spider's hearing mechanism,The researchers used laser vibrometry and measured more than a thousand locations on the web. The result showed that the web transmits sound with almost maximum physical efficiency in an ultra-wide frequency range.
According to the authors, their research will help create extremely sensitive microphones for use in hearing aids and mobile phones.
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