Research projects
Overview by leaders > Project detail...
Dr. Alessandro Urciuoli
HEAR - Human and Ape Hearing Evolution: Reconstruction of Auditive Capabilities Based on Cochlear Soft Tissue Morphology |
||
Leadership/contacts |
||
Duration |
September 2025 to August 2029 |
|
Funding sources |
SNF, Personen- und Projektförderung, SNF Ambizione Project |
|
Collaborations |
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery - University of Zurich (Switzerland) Natural History Museum, London (United Kingdom) Cátedra de Bioacústica Evolutiva - Universidad de Alcalá de Henares (Spain) |
|
Summary |
The ability to understand complex sounds, especially in the mid-to-high frequency range, is a unique modern human trait. This skill is linked to special adaptations in the human ear, which allow us to hear better in this range compared to chimpanzees and monkeys. Such an increase in hearing performance has been linked to the presence in our species of language, one of the most iconic human features. Yet, due to the lack of data for most of our closest extant ape relatives, it is very difficult to accurately reconstruct the evolution of human hearing and language capabilities. The project HEAR aims to fill in this gap and apply medicine-derived methods developed for hearing-loss assessment to paleoanthropology. First, we will use advanced image technology to achieve an unprecedented level of detail for the hearing organ anatomy of modern humans and living apes. For the latter we currently have no data, which is preventing us to reach an understanding of their hearing capabilities. Second, we will adapt medicine-derived models for the organ of hearing to the morphology of the living ape membranes. This will help us understanding how this sensory organ works in our closest relatives and identifying possible differences with our species. Third, we will validate methods developed for pre-surgery analyses to infer the membranous system in fossil species, for which soft tissue is not available. The advances obtained for these research objectives will enable the development of a mathematical model to reconstruct hearing capabilities in fossil hominins and thus help in shedding light into the evolution of human-like hearing. The project may aid clinical research, like understanding anomalous cochlear shapes and tailoring hearing-loss treatments for patients. data.snf.ch/grants/grant/223833 |
|
Keywords |
Geometric morphometrics, Hearing impairment, Tonotopic mapping, Finite Element Analysis, Cochlear physiology, Sensory ecology, Digital imaging, Virtual histology, Language evolution, Hominins |
|