We study acoustic communication from an evolutionary and comparative approach. Within these approaches, our research focusses on two main areas. Firstly, we are interested in the evolution of signalling and how it fits into the social system of a species. Secondly, we study the cognitive basis of signalling responses and how apes integrate information from different sources. In addition to non-human primates, we use ultrasonic vocalisations from mice to investigate the influence of specific genes on communication and social behaviour. We actively contribute to the development of new methods to advance comparative analyses of vocalisations. The aim of our research is to identify constraints and selective pressures that shape the evolution of vocal communication and, not least, the evolution of human language.