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Acoustic context and dynamics of nonlinear phenomena in mammalian calls : the case of puppy whines

Massenet, Mathilde ; Pisanski, Katarzyna ; Reynaud, Karine ; Mathevon, Nicolas ; Reby, David and Anikin, Andrey LU orcid (2025) In Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Abstract
Nonlinear phenomena (NLP) are often associated with high arousal and function to grab attention and/or signal urgency in vocalizations such as distress calls. Although biomechanical models and in vivo/ex vivo experiments suggest that their occurrence reflects the destabilization of vocal fold vibration under intense subglottal pressure and muscle tension, comprehensive descriptions of the dynamics of NLP occurrence in natural vocal signals are critically lacking. Here, to plug this gap, we report the timing, type, extent and acoustic context of NLP in 12 011 whines produced by Beagle puppies (Canis familiaris) during a brief separation from their mothers. Within bouts of whines, we show that both the proportion of time vocalizing and the... (More)
Nonlinear phenomena (NLP) are often associated with high arousal and function to grab attention and/or signal urgency in vocalizations such as distress calls. Although biomechanical models and in vivo/ex vivo experiments suggest that their occurrence reflects the destabilization of vocal fold vibration under intense subglottal pressure and muscle tension, comprehensive descriptions of the dynamics of NLP occurrence in natural vocal signals are critically lacking. Here, to plug this gap, we report the timing, type, extent and acoustic context of NLP in 12 011 whines produced by Beagle puppies (Canis familiaris) during a brief separation from their mothers. Within bouts of whines, we show that both the proportion of time vocalizing and the number of whines containing NLP, especially those with chaos, increase with time since separation, presumably reflecting heightened arousal. Within whines, we show that NLP are typically produced during the first half of the call, following the steepest rises in pitch (fundamental frequency, fo) and amplitude. While our study reinforces the notion that NLP arise in calls due to instabilities in vocal production during high arousal, it also provides novel and efficient analytical tools for quantifying nonlinear acoustics in ecologically relevant mammal vocal communication contexts.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Nonlinear phenomena in vertebrate vocalizations: mechanisms and communicative functions’. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
nonlinear phenomena, unstable phonation, communicative function, arousal, acoustic analysis
in
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
publisher
Royal Society Publishing
external identifiers
  • pmid:40176516
  • scopus:105003047465
ISSN
1471-2970
DOI
10.1098/rstb.2024.0022
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
7ef588ed-5711-4e6c-a9a8-caa225c22a97
date added to LUP
2025-04-03 18:39:24
date last changed
2025-05-08 04:02:36
@article{7ef588ed-5711-4e6c-a9a8-caa225c22a97,
  abstract     = {{Nonlinear phenomena (NLP) are often associated with high arousal and function to grab attention and/or signal urgency in vocalizations such as distress calls. Although biomechanical models and in vivo/ex vivo experiments suggest that their occurrence reflects the destabilization of vocal fold vibration under intense subglottal pressure and muscle tension, comprehensive descriptions of the dynamics of NLP occurrence in natural vocal signals are critically lacking. Here, to plug this gap, we report the timing, type, extent and acoustic context of NLP in 12 011 whines produced by Beagle puppies (Canis familiaris) during a brief separation from their mothers. Within bouts of whines, we show that both the proportion of time vocalizing and the number of whines containing NLP, especially those with chaos, increase with time since separation, presumably reflecting heightened arousal. Within whines, we show that NLP are typically produced during the first half of the call, following the steepest rises in pitch (fundamental frequency, fo) and amplitude. While our study reinforces the notion that NLP arise in calls due to instabilities in vocal production during high arousal, it also provides novel and efficient analytical tools for quantifying nonlinear acoustics in ecologically relevant mammal vocal communication contexts.<br/><br/>This article is part of the theme issue ‘Nonlinear phenomena in vertebrate vocalizations: mechanisms and communicative functions’.}},
  author       = {{Massenet, Mathilde and Pisanski, Katarzyna and Reynaud, Karine and Mathevon, Nicolas and Reby, David and Anikin, Andrey}},
  issn         = {{1471-2970}},
  keywords     = {{nonlinear phenomena; unstable phonation; communicative function; arousal; acoustic analysis}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
  series       = {{Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences}},
  title        = {{Acoustic context and dynamics of nonlinear phenomena in mammalian calls : the case of puppy whines}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2024.0022}},
  doi          = {{10.1098/rstb.2024.0022}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}