Rubber Device Replicates Complex Bird Songs

London - The BBC reports that Harvard researchers have invented a simple rubber device that replicates complex bird songs. The song is produced by blowing air through the device, which mimics a bird’s vocal tract. The design of the device is very rudimentary made out of two pieces of rubber, which are stuck together but leaving a little area in the middle that forms the vocal tract.

As well as the air source, the device is pressed together by a motor that replicates the action of a contracting muscle. the tract is just an elastic membrane of springs. The discovery was made during a project to learn more about the physical behavior of vocal tracts. The surprisingly simple design was able to replicate complex birdsong of a range of species. The researchers were working with neuroscientists who were trying to understand how a bird learns to sing.