Both male and female cicadas have a primary eardrum in the abdomen. This hearing system is designed to recognize only the cymbalization of individuals of the same species and exclude all other noise. It allows the female cicadas of a specific species to detect the song of their male congeners and to locate them more than 0.5 mi (800 m) around. The distinctive sound emitted by the membranes of male cicadas is due to the number and arrangement of the lines of their chitinous reinforcements.