Spontaneous otoacoustic emissions in monitor lizards.

Monitors (all of which belong to the genus Varanus) make up a very uniform family of often large lizards. They have a large auditory papilla that is not highly specialized, but is divided into two unequal sub-papillae. All hair cells are covered by a tectorial membrane. Spontaneous otoacoustic emissions (SOAE) were examined in Cape monitor lizards (Varanus exanthematicus) and found between 1.08 and 2.91 kHz (at 32 degrees C) and with levels between -2.8 and 25.8 dB SPL. The frequency of SOAE was temperature dependent, with a maximal shift of 0.07 octaves/degrees C. All SOAE could be suppressed by external tones, most easily by tones near the center frequency and thus suppression tuning curves were V-shaped. In addition, SOAE could be facilitated by external tones, the amplitude increasing up to 10 dB. The most effective tones were generally those between 0.33 and 0.75 octaves above the respective center frequency of the SOAE. External tones could also change the center frequency of SOAE by up to several hundred Hz, most tones causing frequency 'pushing'. Compared to SOAE of other lizards, Varanus SOAE have larger amplitudes and show larger frequency shifts with temperature. Both of these features may be the result of the coupling of large numbers of hair cells via the continuous tectorial membrane.