"Tympanal ears are common among insects and have a simple design- thinned cuticle, the tympanum, overlies a tracheal cavity. The motion of the tympanum in response to sound is transmitted to a mechanotransductor organ, which converts the acoustic signal into an electrical signal for the nervous system. Tympanal ears are, however, not requisite for hearing. Bladder grasshoppers have an atympanate hearing organ and yet are remarkably sensitive. It is increasingly apparent that tympanate ears evolved to provide the insect additional information through acoustic signal analysis, which is accomplished by the structure of tympanal membranes. The objective of our research is to investigate biophysical mechanisms that underlie the auditory processing carried out by tympanal membranes. To achieve our objectives, the vibrational mechanics of insect tympana will be studied using a microscanning laser Doppler vibrometer (mLDV). Tympana will be examined by mLDV employing a destructive (removal of elements) and constructive (addition of elements) approach using focused ion beam (FIB) techniques. Physical models of the tympana will be constructed and tested in order to study the contribution of individual elements to the behaviour of the entire membrane. In addition, computer simulations of these membranes will be used to model and hence dissect the physics underlying membrane behaviour, leading the way to rational miniature acoustic sensor design. The interplay between modeling and experimentation will embody the systems biology approach of our research. We will focus on field cricket, tree cricket and locust tympana, investigating the physical mechanisms that underlie frequency tuning, directional hearing and frequency discrimination in these three systems respectively. The research with tree crickets will extend previous collaboration with Prof. Balakrishnan from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and form the nucleus for further collaborations between UK and India."