Hearing threshold measurements of five stranded short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus).

On May 5, 2011, 23 short-finned pilot whales, Globicephala macrorhynchus, were stranded along the coastline near Cudjoe Key, FL. Five animals (two adult females, two juvenile females, and an adult male) were transported to a rehabilitation facility in Key Largo, FL. Auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) were recorded in response to amplitude modulated tone pips modulated at 1000 Hz.

Auditory evoked potentials in a stranded Gervais' beaked whale (Mesoplodon europaeus).

Efforts to identify the specific causal mechanisms responsible for beaked whale strandings coincident with naval exercises have been hampered by lack of data concerning the hearing abilities of beaked whales and their physiological and behavioral responses to sound. In this study, auditory capabilities of a stranded Gervais' beaked whale (Mesoplodon europaeus) were investigated by measuring auditory evoked potentials. Click-evoked potentials, auditory thresholds as a function of frequency, and the modulation rate transfer function were determined.