Whales Learning to Block Out Harmful Human Noise

By Kelli Bender Jul 17th 2012

Science has proved that we can be pretty noisy neighbors for the underwater creatures of the world. Some of those creatures are even finding ways to stop the damaging sound. According to The New York Times, whales have found a way to block out man-made noises by somehow plugging their ears.

For years, researchers have been aware that noise from things like boat motors, sonar, weapons testing and more can damage the hearing of sea creatures. The Navy believes that underwater listening devices account for a complete or partial loss of hearing in 250,000 sea mammals each year.

To combat the effects of the sounds, some whales have decreased the sensitivity of their hearing, similar to how humans stick theirs fingers in their ears to block noise. Because whales lack fingers, scientists haven't quite figured out how the whales block sound.

Researchers hope to find more answers so they can work on developing a warning signal that would let sea mammals know when a pontentially damaging noise is about to start. Peter Madsen, a professor of marine biology at Aarhus University in Denmark, applauded the study that led to these findings, but told The New York Times that he hopes it doesn't slow down efforts to decrease man-made underwater noise altogether.

Sound is such an issue at sea because sound waves can travel hundreds of miles in the water before diminishing. This allows the noises to affect animals dependent on hearing for navigation and finding food.



The discovery that whales can control their hearing to some extent is the newest development in a constant political battle over sea-life protection. The discovery was made at a research facility in Hawaii, which outfitted whales and dolphins with electrodes so their brainwaves could be monitored. From this information, researchers realized that the animals could adjust their hearing.

The team mainly focused on a false killer whale named Kina. The mammal was played a series of gentle pulses followed by a loud blast. After several tests, Kina learned to lower her hearing sensitivity when she heard the pulses, expecting a loud blast to follow.

"It shows promise as a way to mitigate the effects of loud sounds," Dr. Nachtigall, founding director of the Marine Mammal Research Program at the University of Hawaii, told The New York Times.

After Dr. Nachtigall presented his team's work to the science community, researchers became eager to extend the study and see if other animals can benefit from the findings. Dr. Nachtigall is planning to study bottlenose dolphins and belugas whales next, before moving on to the wild animal population at large. Overall, he hopes he can counter some of the increasing damage human noise is having on these innocent creatures.

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