ABSTRACT
The barn ozol auditory system has been a productive model for the study of the neural mechanisms underlying sound localization. The two ears and their associated facial ruff, specialized feathers that form the ozol’s external ear, are crucial for transforming the position of a sound into interaural time differences and interaural level differences. Once separated, these binaural cues are processed along two separate neural pathzoays. At the level of the ozol’s inferior colliculus the neural information from the two pathzoays converge to form a neural map of auditory space. Experience plays a crucial role in allozoing the nervous system to calibrate itself so that the binaural cues can be effectively interpreted. This chapter summarizes aspects of sound localization by the barn ozol and presents results of a simple behavioral experiment that serves to illustrate the importance of sensory experience to produce meaningful sound localization behavior.
