Biomimetic investigation of the impact of the ear canal on the acoustic field sensitivity of aye-ayes

•A bio-inspired tap scanning model was proposed to investigate the near-field acoustic-based sensing and detection capabilities of aye-ayes.•The effect of the ear canal on the receptive field was studied using a biomimetic experimental setup.•The aye-aye’s ear canal drastically enhances the acoustic receptive field sensitivity.•The ear canal acts as a physical filter to exclude unnecessary frequencies.•A considerable increase in the signal-to-noise ratio and the receiver peak frequency was observed.