Sound: Mice Sing For Love

Some people buy flowers to woo their partners. For others, it's jewelry. For mice, it's song.

New findings conducted by researchers at the University of Delaware investigated how mice lovers were wooing their partners. They already knew that men were singing to their women. But what they didn't know was that the mice honeys were also singing to their men to get them in the mood.

After developing tiny microphones to listen to the music of these lovemaking rodents, researchers were able to determine the pitch of their song. As human ears can only detect about 20 kilohertz, the high-pitched voice of a mouse registers around 35 to 125 kilohertz. The special microphones helped researchers pick up and collect samples of mouse sounds as well as related data during the experiment.

In the experiment, researchers also developed a sound system based on a chamber composed of nylon mesh walls to reduce sound bouncing around the enclosed space and off walls. They installed an array of four microphones, illuminating the chamber with infrared light and linking each mouse to a tracking system that helped develop a calculation to divide the sound into smaller pieces. Researchers observed the interactions of two male and two female mice, detecting vocal exchanges during chases when a male pursued a female, according to a news release. The findings revealed that females who responded vocally to a male's "song" slowed down, making it easier for the male to catch up to them. However, unresponsive females kept up their pace.

Now, the researchers are examining the social communication seen in mouse models of autism.  And with future studies, researchers are hopeful that the information may lead to certain advances in a better understandings of the behavioral health issue--providing insight into brain mechanics.

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