(Chirping sound.) That may not sound like much–but it’s the loudest animal in the world. For its size, that is. The insect called the water boatman is two millimeters long. And these peeps can be heard from a stream bottom by the human ear.

Animals are generally ___1___ by the mechanics of size. But small creatures need to be heard as well. Researchers thought some freshwater species might rely on sound because of ___2___. So they collected water boatmen from a stream and pond in France. They recorded 13 males doing their thing. They measured the sound level and the insects’ bodies. And they compared those figures with 227 other loud species, like elephants. And relative to its body, the little water boatman made the biggest racket, ___3___ at 99 decibels. The research was published in the journal Public Library of Science One. [Jér?me Sueur, David Mackie, James Windmill, "So Small, So Loud: Extremely High Sound Pressure Level from a Pygmy Aquatic Insect (Corixidae, Micronectinae)"]

The scientists say they haven’t figured out exactly how the tiny creature produces such volume–in part it comes from ___4___ of its genitalia against its abdomen. But understanding the amplification could help us improve our own ___5___ technology. Using different techniques, of course.
【視聽版科學(xué)小組榮譽(yù)出品】
constrained poor visibility maxing out rubbing part acoustic
聽上去好像也沒什么——不過(guò)這可是世界上聲音最響的動(dòng)物了，當(dāng)然，是就體積而言。這種名為劃蝽的昆蟲體長(zhǎng)只有2毫米，不過(guò)它們發(fā)出的鳴叫聲人們?cè)谒锥寄苈犚姟?動(dòng)物都受到體型限制，不過(guò)微型生物也需要人們傾聽。研究人員認(rèn)為，受視線影響，部分水生生物需要依賴聲音活動(dòng)。因此，他們收集了法國(guó)某池塘里的劃蝽，對(duì)13只雄性劃蝽的活動(dòng)進(jìn)行了錄音，并對(duì)這鞋劃蝽的聲音分貝以及體長(zhǎng)進(jìn)行了測(cè)量，而后將這些數(shù)據(jù)和227種其它聲音響亮的生物，如大象，作比較。相對(duì)體型而言，小劃蝽最聒噪，聲音最高達(dá)99分貝。這項(xiàng)研究報(bào)告刊載在《公共科學(xué)圖書館?綜合》上。 科學(xué)家們表示，他們還沒有確定這種小東西是如何發(fā)出這么高分貝的音量的——一部分聲音是由生殖器官和腹部摩擦發(fā)出的。了解振幅也能夠幫助改良人類的聲學(xué)技術(shù)，當(dāng)然要用到形形色色的技術(shù)啦~