Hearing evolved as an omnidirectional alarm system complementing directional vision

Evidence

Our relatively low capability to listen selectively to different directions may reveal something about the role of hearing in our evolution. Vision is used to precisely locate an object, and when looking in one direction, the perception of visual details of objects in other directions, is greatly diminished, and objects outside the field of vision are not perceived at all. We can assume that evolution has developed hearing as an omnidirectional alarm system with high sensitivity over a large frequency region to complement directionally selective vision. We can only guess at the capabilities of the auditory system if our hearing had developed towards better directional sensitivity. We would probably have more than two ears with poorer frequency resolution, or perhaps acoustic lenses coupled with more of ears. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1519

Categorization

• SEED: The counterfactual — engineered ears with acoustic lenses — is a fun speculative-design angle for art or explainer writing.
• STORYSTEM: A species whose hearing evolved toward directional acuity (many ears, lenses) instead of omnidirectional alarm would have a radically different sensory psychology — plausible speculative-fiction seed.
• corroborated: 4 independent passages support this claim — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1519
• XREF: connects to: Vision dominates hearing in localization, identification, and size judgment — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 873; Human hearing evolved to decode natural sounds beyond speech or music — Gordon Hempton, John Grossmann, One Square Inch of Silence- One Man’s…, 23; Head separation between ears produces arrival-time and intensity cues for direction (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Head separation between ears produces arrival-time and intensity cues for direction #expands (0.80)
• Human hearing evolved to decode natural sounds beyond speech or music #expands (0.72) — Gordon Hempton, John Grossmann, One Square Inch of Silence- One Man’s…, 23