When two mosquitoes meet to mate, each modulates its flight tones such that the female's 3rd and the male's 2nd harmonic frequencies are equivalent. We show that this phenomenon is an example of synchronization, which is common in nature. The mosquito's flight tone acts as an external signal, stimulating its partner to adjust the wing beat rhythm to achieve the synchronization state. A simplified model, which is based on the frequency ratio difference feedback mechanism, is proposed to describe the harmonic convergence of mosquitoes. Furthermore, we proposed a method to characterize the energy dissipation in the frequency alteration, and the results demonstrate that 3/2 frequency locking is an optimal selection to mosquitoes. When compared with other possible ratios, the mosquitoes expend minimum energy if they lock the synchronizing state at a ratio of 3/2.
Pitch is the most important auditory perception characteristic of sound with respect to speech intelligibility and music appreciation,and corresponds to a frequency of sound stimulus.However,in some cases,we can perceive virtual pitch,where the corresponding frequency component does not exist in the stimulating sound.This virtual pitch contains a deviation from the de Boer pitch shift formula,which is known as second pitch shift.It has been theoretically suggested that nonlinear dynamics in the cochlea or in the neural network produce a nonlinear resonance with a frequency corresponding to the virtual pitch;however,there is no direct experimental observation to support this theory.The second virtual pitch shift,expressed via basilar membrane nonlinear vibration temporal patterns,and consistent with psychoacoustic experiments,is observed in situ in the cochlea via laser interferometry.
A new method based on the phenomenon of synchronization and the properties of chaos is proposed to reduce interference in the transferred chaotic signals of synchronized systems. The interference is considered as a series of small deviations from the original clean trajectory in the phase space. By means of our special design, these small deviations can be estimated using positive Lyapunov exponents, and removed from interfered chaotic signals. Application is illustrated for the Lorenz attractor, and numerical computing demonstrates that the method is effective in removing typical external interference.
