Million years ago, dinosaurs roamed the Earth, leaving behind a legacy etched in rocks. Their legacy is etched into rocks. Fossils have given us a glimpse into their physical form, different species, traits, and even lifestyle.
The fossils have revealed their lifestyle, physical characteristics, species and traits. While we can imagine their appearance, the sounds they made remain a mystery. We can only imagine what they looked like, but the sound that they produced is a mystery.
Now, a new study suggests that these fossilized remains may also give insights into these giant creatures' sounds. Researchers from New York University have created a unique pipe-like instrument inspired by the dinosaur's distinctive crest.
"I've been fascinated by giant animals ever since I was a kid. Since I was young, giant animals have fascinated me. I'd spend hours reading books, watching movies, and imagining what it would be like if dinosaurs were still around today," said Hongjun Lin, who conducted this study.
"It wasn't until college that I realized the sounds we hear in movies and shows--while mesmerizing--are completely fabricated using sounds from modern animals. That's when I decided to dive deeper and explore what dinosaurs might have actually sounded like," Lin added.
A 3D-printed model of the Parasaurolophus skulls at a 1:3 scale to the original fossil. The nasal passages are shown in white on the model.
This team focused specifically on Parasaurolophus. It was a dinosaur with a duckbill that lived between 70 and 80 million years before. These giant dinosaurs reached a height of about 16 feet and weighed an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 pounds.
Parasaurolophus was unique in that it had a crest. A crest is a bony protrusion from certain dinosaurs' skulls. For a long time, the curved, bony crest baffled paleontologists. Some hypothesized that it might have functioned as a super sniffer or an underwater breathing apparatus.
Recent studies on parasaurolophus have shown that the crest most likely was used to produce sound. The hollow tubes within these structures suggest that they acted as resonating chambers, amplifying the dinosaur's vocalizations.
Lin built a model of this structure to better understand its acoustic characteristics. The model was made up of hollow tubes that were arranged to resemble the chambers in the actual crest. Moreover, the model was delicately suspended by cotton threads.
A speaker of a small size was used to create sound vibrations. Crest acted as a resonator Lin's team examined how sound waves moved through the tubes in order to learn more about the dinosaur crest and its sound-production and amplifier capabilities.
According to the research team's press release, this model is called "Linophone". They emphasize that it doesn't look exactly like the Parasaurolophus Crest.
"I wanted something simplified and accessible for both modeling and building a physical device," Lin said. "My ultimate goal is to re-create the sound of the Parasaurolophus."
Early findings suggest that Parasaurolophus used its crest to "resonate" like the modern bird's crest.
The physical model is a representation in tangible form of the mathematical model. It will allow researchers to test and visualize acoustic principle. The mathematical model is still under development, which will simulate real-world systems using equations and algorithms.
The researcher wants to make a plug-in for music composers that allows them to incorporate dinosaur sounds into their compositions. This device was unveiled at the Virtual 187th Meeting of Acoustical Society of America.