Hearing serves both environmental orientation and communication since early animal evolution

Evidence

Two main ways of utilizing the auditory sense are to sense orientation in the environment and for communication between subjects. The former activity can be found among early phases of animal evolution. As an example, the sound events shown in Figure I. bring information to the subject about the surroundings. The sounds caused by the shoes of the horse imply the type of terrain, the wind sounds bring information about the weather, and the sounds caused by animals, even from visually obscure locations, report their presence, action, and location. Any of the sounds may reach conscious attention and may startle the subject, with resulting reactions. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 64

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the two-way categorization of auditory use: orientation in environment vs. communication between subjects.
• XREF: connects to: Sound functions as an ecological resource organisms track for survival — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology: Principles,…, 248