Charla de jóvenes investigadores: Physiologically driven electronic avian vocal organ

EZEQUIEL M. ARNEODO; YONATAN SANZ PERL; GABRIEL B. MINDLIN

Huerta Grande, Córdoba, Argentina

Conferencia; II REUNION CONJUNTA DE NEUROCIENCIAS; 2010

Sociedad Argentina de Neurociencias - Taller Argentino de Neurociencias

Songbirds are the best-suited animal model to study general mechanisms underlying learned motorbehavior responsible for complex output, as it is birdsong. Between the central motor pattern generatorand the complex output stands a highly nonlinear biomechanical periphery. While much effort focuseson neural control, we highlight the relevance of the interplay between the central mechanisms of motorcontrol and the highly nonlinear peripheral biomechanical system. The avian vocal organ of the ZebraFinch (Taeniopygia guttata) is capable of generating a large variety of acoustic signals, which rangefrom simple whistles to highly complex sounds.A mathematical model of the zebra finch syrinx is proposed, in which the onset of labial oscillationsand the acoustic features of the sound are tuned by parameters accounting for the bird´s motor patterns.We build an electronic birdsong synthesizer by implementing the model in a Digital Signal Processor(DSP). This device is capable of reading physiological recordings, integrating the mathematicalequations representing the avian vocal organ´s behavior, and producing synthetic birdsong in real time.