BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK—According to a CNN report, a new study of Neanderthal ear bones suggests that the hominins were capable of hearing sounds similar to modern human speech. Rolf Quam of Binghamton University and his colleagues used CT scans to produce 3-D models of fossilized ear bones of Neanderthals, modern humans, and early hominins thought to be Neanderthal ancestors. They then measured how sound traveled through the ear canal, to the ear drum, through the middle ear bones, and into the inner ear. The researchers determined that Neanderthals could hear a wider range of sounds than their ancestors, and had the capability to distinguish between consonant sounds. “Neanderthals could have produced all the sounds in that frequency range, like we can,” Quam explained. “There does not seem to be any difference in their ability to produce speech sounds.” For more recent research on Neanderthals, go to "Painful Past."
