Rachel Olson has been awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie EU Horizons Individual Fellowship to study the biomechanics of bird song as part of the’Birdsong team of long-time grant-holder Pauline Provini.
Birds use a single vocal organ, the syrinx, to produce a variety of sounds and songs. This sound is then filtered through the rest of the vocal apparatus, such as the trachea, larynx, tongue and beak, to produce the sound we hear. The resulting sounds reflect a much wider range of vocal abilities than those produced by humans. By understanding how these sounds are created and modulated, we can develop bioinspired prostheses to restore a natural voice to people who have lost it. What's more, this work will enable us to better understand the evolution of the biomechanics of bird song.
This project will use state-of-the-art methods to digitally dissect the vocal tract of various bird species to determine which anatomical features correlate with sound characteristics. The work in vivo using X-ray and air particle imaging methods will enable us to directly observe and quantify the movements and deformations of the avian vocal system to determine how the vocal tract modulates sound. This will also enable us to validate computational models of airflow and sound dynamics, and apply the results to extinct species to determine the sounds they may have produced. Find out more about the project , click here.
Congratulations Rachel!
