Fourier and electrophysiological analyses of acoustic communication in Acheta domesticus

Waveform and spectral analysis were made on the call song of the cricket, Acheta domesticus. Sounds produced by unrestrained male crickets were led directly to a computer where discrete Fourier transforms were performed on selected segments of the call song. The findings revealed essentially pure tone carrier frequencies which result from the rate at which the individual teeth of the pars stridens are struck by the plectrum. An electrophysiologically determined audiogram showed good agreement with the dominant frequency of the call song, but was less sensitive and more broadly tuned than hearing curves of most fiels crickets.