Communicating Animals Require Good Hearing

Hearing is well-developed in all birds. The fact that they communicate by voice shows this. The way songbirds and parrots imitate sounds prove that they hear them the same way we do.

The bird's hearing covers about the same range as man's. It has been suggested that due to the broader construction of the hearing mechanism, birds are less sensitive to a wide range of sound frequencies than mammals, but more sensitive to differences in intensity. Further, a bird is able to hear and respond to rapid fluctuations in song about ten times as rapidly as man can.

The ear, besides its importance in hearing, is the organ of equilibrium. The basic structure of the inner ear reached such a high state of perfection, even in fishes, that its basic design has remained unchanged up the evolutionary ladder all the way to mammals.

The ear of a bird is not apparent because it has no external pinna (ear flap). Feathers hide the ear in all of our pet birds. To locate the ear, the feathers must be parted in the area below and in back of the eye. The ear at this point is merely a tube that carries sound waves from the surrounding air inward to the ear drum at its base. The wall of the outer ear canal may contain a number of small sebaceous glands. The ear glands secrete wax, but seldom is a buildup noticeable.

Recommendation: An infection, parasites, accumulation of wax or other abnormality would be signaled by a loss of feathers or the bird's rubbing the side of his head. These symptoms or any head tilt should be seen by your veterinarian.