dlphinDepartment of Zoology, Universty of Hawai'i
Dr. Paul Nachtigall

Paul Nachtigall
PhD University of Hawai'i (Psychology), 1976
Director, Marine Mammal Research Program, Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology
Marine Mammal Research Program
Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology
P.O. Box 1106
Kailua, HI 96734
nachtiga@hawaii.edu
www.soest.hawaii.edu/HIMB/Faculty/nachtigall.html

Current students

Aran Mooney (Ph.D)
Echolocation of fishing nets, hearing of whales and dolphins
Aude Pacini (Ph.D.)
Marine mammals acoustics and echolocation



dolphin

false killer whale

Cetacean sensory and perceptual processes

My research interests focus on the sensory and perceptual processes of dolphins and small whales. Past research has focused on taste reception, vision, hearing and echolocation of toothed whales and dolphins. Currently conducting research on hearing (sound localization, low frequency audiometrics, evoked auditory potential measurements as a way to study hearing in large whales, examining hearing while animals echolocate), echolocation (determining acoustic processes of echolocation via phantom echo experiments, effects of noise on dolphins, modeling discrimination abilities) with further interest in aiding stranded animals and may be conducting future studies on vision and taste reception.

Representative publications
Mooney, T.A., Nachtigall, P.E., and Yuen, M.E., Rapid auditory evoked responses and high temporal resolution in a Risso's dolphin, Grampus griseus.(Accepted - Journal of Comparative Physiology)

Nachtigall, P.E., Yuen, M.E., Mooney, T.A., and Taylor, K.A. Hearing measurements from a stranded infant Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus) (Accepted- Journal of Experimental Biology)

Yuen, M.E., Nachtigall, P.E., and Supin, A.Ya. Behavioral and AEP Audiograms of a false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens). (In Press: Journal of the Acoustical Society of America)

Supin, A. Ya., Nachtigall, P.E., Au, W.W.L, and Breese, M. (2005) Invariance of echo-responses to target strength and distance in an echolocating false killer whale: evoked potential study. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,117(6), 3928-3935

Nachtigall, P.E., Supin, A.Ya. Pawloski, J. L and Au, W.W.L. (2004) Temporary threshold shifts after noise exposure in a bottlenosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) measured using evoked auditory potentials. Marine Mammal Science, 20(4), 673-68

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