As sensory ecologist and bio-acoustician with strong links to bio-inspired engineering professor Holderied’s international research excellence is in the emerging fields of acoustic camouflage and biosonar navigation, with a continued passion for acoustic arms races and wildlife acoustics. He develops lepidoptera-inspired noise control solutions and as international consultant for the automotive industry helps establish Ultrasonic Vision technology. He studied Biology at the University of Erlangen, Germany (1997 Diploma, 2001 PhD) and since 2005 leads the BASElab at the University of Bristol, UK.

Wingtip decoys and Stealth cloaks - Acoustic Defences of Moths against detection by echolocating Bats

Invisibility cloaks are fantastic devices in popular culture from Harry Potter to Star Trek. But even in the real world so-called metamaterials (synthetic composite materials with emergent new properties) can act as (partial) cloaks both against light (vision) and sound (acoustics). We recently discovered that the 65MY old arms race with their echolocating bat predators has equipped silkmoths (Saturniidae) with remarkable acoustic metamaterials on their wings and bodies. These ultrathin sound absorbers offer protection because the strength of the echo bouncing off the moth's body determines the distance over which bats can detect it. In the talk we will use innovative acoustic tomographies to visualise how fur on bodies and scales on wings of moths provide acoustic cloaking. Turning the moth wing into bio-inspired thinner and better sound absorbers ('sonic wallpaper') can help us in the struggle to maintain healthy living and working environments in our ever noisier world.

Keywords: Echolocation, Lepidopteran wings, scales, metamaterial sound absorber