Praying mantises are not deaf, but they are the only known animals that hear through a single channel. That is, it could be said that they essentially only have one ear. Those responsible for the discovery were the American neurologists David Yager and Ronald Hoy, from the universities of Maryland and Cornell, respectively, who described their findings in the journal Science in the 1980s. In their article they pointed out that the maximum sensitivity of their system Hearing occurs at frequencies between 25 and 45 kilohertz. Its limit would be between 55 and 60 decibels, a capacity similar to that of moths and crickets.
In addition, their hearing is not located in the head, but in the thorax . It is composed of an auditory cavity with complex walls that contain the tympanic organs; the membrane that constitutes the eardrum covers several closed air sacs forming a kind of drums. When the vibrations hit the surface of these bags, the sensory cells arranged around them pick up the stimuli and transmit them to the nervous system.
Yager and Hoy also found that mantises react quickly to ultrasound pulses and even change their flight path because of them. This ability allows them to escape from insectivorous bats.
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