The small and smart sensors of insect auditory systems

Insects have evolved very diverse sensory systems to detect incident acoustic energy. The ears of insects are always very small -often spanning less that one millimeteryet they perform very well all elementary tasks of acoustic detection. Here, we present an experimental analysis of the mechanical response of the ears of the locust. We show how the locust eardrums mechanically process incident sound waves, decomposing them into different frequency components. The potential value of insect ears for the development of bio-inspired acoustic sensors is discussed.