RT Journal Article
T1 Neanderthals and Homo sapiens had similar auditory and speech capacities
A1 Conde Valverde, Mercedes
A1 Martínez, Ignacio
A1 Quam, Rolf
A1 Rosa, Manuel
A1 Velez, Alex D.
A1 Lorenzo Merino, Carlos
A1 Jarabo, Pilar
A1 Bermúdez de Castro, José María
A1 Carbonell i Roura, Eudald
A1 Arsuaga Ferreras, Juan Luis
AB The study of audition in fossil hominins is of great interest given its relationship with intraspecific vocal communication. While the auditory capacities have been studied in early hominins and in the Middle Pleistocene Sima de los Huesos hominins, less is known about the hearing abilities of the Neanderthals. Here, we provide a detailed approach to their auditory capacities. Relying on computerized tomography scans and a comprehensive model from the field of auditory bioengineering, we have established sound power transmission through the outer and middle ear and calculated the occupied bandwidth in Neanderthals. The occupied bandwidth is directly related to the efficiency of the vocal communication system of a species. Our results show that the occupied bandwidth of Neanderthals was greater than the Sima de los Huesos hominins and similar to extant humans, implying that Neanderthals evolved the auditory capacities to support a vocal communication system as efficient as modern human speech.
PB Nature Research
SN 2397-334X
YR 2021
FD 2021
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/8642
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/8642
LA eng
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN)
NO Universidad de Alcalá
NO Fundación Atapuerca
NO Binghamton University
NO Fulbright Commission
DS Docta Complutense
RD 7 abr 2025