Spiders use webs to extend their hearing: study

A new study has revealed that spiders are not only using their webs to hear but to tell where sound is coming from.

The research, which looked at orb-weaving spiders specifically, suggests that the spiders use their webs as extended auditory arrays to capture sounds, which might provide them with early notice of approaching prey or predators.

The study is the latest collaboration between Ron Miles, a Mechanical Engineering faculty member at Binghamton University and Ron Hoy, a biology professor from Cornell, and has implications for designing sensitive bio-inspired microphones in hearing aids and cell phones.

Spiders are well-known for reacting to vibrations in their webs, such as possible prey.

But according to the observations of this latest study, spiders also turn, crouch or flatten themselves in reaction to noises in the air.