The Ormia ochracea fly has a sophisticated sound processing mechanism that determines the direction of a sound within an angle of 2 degrees.
Picture Source: Medical News Today
Engineers at the University of Texas are pioneering the technology for a new generation of hypersensitive hearing aids that use intelligent microphones to select only those sounds or conversations that the wearer wants to hear.
The research is based on observation of the “super-hearing mechanism” of the yellow colored parastoid fly Ormia ochracea. This fly has a remarkable ability to locate sound. It’s highly evolved hearing mechanism can sense the 4 millisecond gap between sound entering one ear and the other. It also amplifies this time difference using a “teeter-totter” or “see-saw” mechanism that allows it to locate a cricket with remarkable accuracy.
One of key complaints with hearing aids is that when there are a lot of competing noise sources, hearing can be quite difficult. Numerous technological advances have been made in hearing in background noise, but this technology if it can be properly adopted in hearing will revolutionise the hearing aid industry.
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