Spiders Use Their Webs as Giant Microphones to Hear What’s Going on Around Them, Says New Research

[Michie]

Spiders use their webs as giant microphones reveals new research that shows how the arachnids weave webs to do more than just trap their insect prey.

Scientists at Binghamton University, New York, found that spiderweb silk moves at the velocity of particles in a sound field for highly sensitive, long-distance noise detection.

Unlike human eardrums and conventional microphones that detect sound pressure waves, the researchers explained that spider silk responds to changes in the velocities of air particles as they are thrust about by soundwaves.

That sound velocity detection method remains largely underexplored compared to pressure sensing, but American scientists say it holds “great potential” for high-sensitivity, long-distance sound detection.

In their investigations, the team found that the webs match the acoustic particle velocity for a wide range of sound frequencies.

Continued below.

Spiders Use Their Webs as Giant Microphones to Hear What's Going on Around Them, Says New Research

The scientists found that the sound-induced velocity of the silk was the same as the particles in the air surrounding it.

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