Control of vocal intensity in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus): differential reinforcement of vocal intensity and the Lombard effect

Abstract

Call production in budgerigars was studied using operant conditioning. In several experiments, budgerigars were reinforced with food for producing calls that were above or below a criterion level of intensity. This differential reinforcement procedure was successful in controlling vocal intensity in both directions showing that the intensity with which budgerigars produce vocalizations is under voluntary control. In additional experiments, call intensity maintained by food reinforcement was measured both in the quiet and in the presence of various levels of broadband noise. Call intensity in budgerigars increased significantly in noise, paralleling the well-known Lombard effect in humans which is the reflexive increase in speech intensity during communication in noise. Call intensity was measured in broadband noise and in a notched noise (no energy between 1.5 and 4.5 kHz) with the same overall level. Results show that noise in the spectral region of contact calls is most effective in causing an increase in vocal intensity. In aggregate, these experiments show that budgerigars have voluntary control over the intensive aspect of their vocalizations, that they normally monitor their vocal output though external auditory feedback, and, like humans, they exhibit the Lombard effect.