Hearing, action, space

This chapter is an essay on the relationship between audition, action, and space. In its main features, our auditory system resembles that of other vertebrates: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians or fish, and this testifies to its great phylogenetic age. Perceptual systems were originally inseparable from motor systems, and this applies in particular to the sense of space that guides navigation and adjusts spatial parameters of action. Hearing is complementary to other senses, but with the advantage that it works in dark and cluttered environments. A closer look at the auditory system reveals a largely centrifugal structure, in which the most central levels can act on the most peripheral, and many species adopt active strategies to probe space acoustically.