We may have come from deaf
ancestors. That's the implication of a new study out of Denmark. A University of Southern Denmark research group studied the lungfish. These are the closest living relatives to the
tetrapods, which are associated with the water-to-land transition. It turns out they are not sensitive to sound pressure, but sensitive to vibrations. Scientists say the
tympanic ear for hearing didn't develop until the Triassic Age, more than 100 million years after the origin of
tetrapods. Details are in the online journal
Biology Letters.