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Acoustic monitoring is one of our biggest and most active groups, with members collecting, analysing, and interpreting acoustic data from across species, ecosystems, and applications, from animal vocalizations to sounds from our natural and built environment

discussion

Which market-available microphones, accelerometers and GIS sensors for dogs / pets ?

Luigi

7 September 2023 3:21pm

I have conducted an MSc thesis in data-science applied on bioacoustics data, and wish to carry on some experiments on my own now, using domestic environment as a lab.I am looking...

2 1
Lars Holst Hansen

11 September 2023 4:33pm

 

Hi Luigi!

 

You should have a look at the μMoth 

https://github.com/OpenAcousticDevices/Datasheets/blob/main/uMoth_Datasheet/uMoth_Datasheet.pdf

 developed by @alex_rogers and others from Open Acoustics Devices:

As an alternative audiologger meant to be animal borne, check out the Audiologger developed by Simon Chamaillé-Jammes @schamaille et al :

Energy-Efficient Audio Processing at the Edge for Biologging Applications

Biologging refers to the use of animal-borne recording devices to study wildlife behavior. In the case of audio recording, such devices generate large amounts of data over several months, and thus require some level of processing automation for the raw data collected. Academics have widely adopted offline deep-learning-classification algorithms to extract meaningful information from large datasets, mainly using time-frequency signal representations such as spectrograms. Because of the high deployment costs of animal-borne devices, the autonomy/weight ratio remains by far the fundamental concern. Basically, power consumption is addressed using onboard mass storage (no wireless transmission), yet the energy cost associated with data storage activity is far from negligible. In this paper, we evaluate various strategies to reduce the amount of stored data, making the fair assumption that audio will be categorized using a deep-learning classifier at some point of the process. This assumption opens up several scenarios, from straightforward raw audio storage paired with further offline classification on one side, to a fully embedded AI engine on the other side, with embedded audio compression or feature extraction in between. This paper investigates three approaches focusing on data-dimension reduction: (i) traditional inline audio compression, namely ADPCM and MP3, (ii) full deep-learning classification at the edge, and (iii) embedded pre-processing that only computes and stores spectrograms for later offline classification. We characterized each approach in terms of total (sensor + CPU + mass-storage) edge power consumption (i.e., recorder autonomy) and classification accuracy. Our results demonstrate that ADPCM encoding brings 17.6% energy savings compared to the baseline system (i.e., uncompressed raw audio samples). Using such compressed data, a state-of-the-art spectrogram-based classification model still achieves 91.25% accuracy on open speech datasets. Performing inline data-preparation can significantly reduce the amount of stored data allowing for a 19.8% energy saving compared to the baseline system, while still achieving 89% accuracy during classification. These results show that while massive data reduction can be achieved through the use of inline computation of spectrograms, it translates to little benefit on device autonomy when compared to ADPCM encoding, with the added downside of losing original audio information.

MDPI

This one can also log acceleration and magnetometry! We have recently deployed it on muskoxen in Greenland.

For a GPS tracker, you may want take a look at the SnapperGPS by @JonasBchrt & @alex_rogers :

SnapperGPS - Home

Home page of SnapperGPS - A small, low-cost, low-power wildlife tracking system.

As an alternative the i-gotU GPS logger may be of interest:

i-gotU GT-120B GPS / GNSS Data Logger - Water Resistant, 21g only, Managing Large Deployments with Ease (2022 Edition)

(USB / Wireless dual interfaces, GPS and QZSS multiple constellations, Windows, Android and IOS compatible) Compared to previous models (i.e. GT 120) which are GPS, GT-120B is a GNSS logger that utilizes both GPS and QZSS constellations. It has multi-path detection, which dramatically eliminates Ionospheric error and multi-path effects. Compared to previous GPS models, the data accuracy is significantly better.  GT-120B has usb and wireless dual interfaces, which allows data  to be  downloaded either via either usb or wirelessly. Rather than using the proprietary USB cable for GT-120, GT-120B uses a standard micros-usb cable.  GT-120B can be used as an usb GNSS receiver with 1-10Hz update rates. When used as a GNSS data logger, the update rate is 1 Hz. Managing large deployments of GT-120B with ease The I-gotU GT-120B comes with mobile and Windows apps which help manage a large number of loggers.  1. You can view all your GT-120B devices on Google maps from your mobile phone app. 2. You can self define a group, add loggers to the group and select tracks from the group. 3. From your mobile phone, you can keep track of battery and memory statuses of all your GT-120B devices. 4. Not only can you backup your device settings, you can also standardize the settings of a bunch of devices by using import / export features. 5. If you want to protect the GT-120B data from unauthorized downloads, you can enable password check settings. 6. GT-120B can be turned on / off by a predefined schedule. Battery runtime by GPS log interval GPS log interval Battery runtime 1 sec 5 sec 15hr 10 sec 25hr 15 sec 60hr 30 sec 120hr 60 sec 180hr 60 min 2 months Logging configuration options Configurable GPS Logging interval 1sec~60min59sec Circular Logging YES POI YES Scheduled Logging YES Merge scheduled waypoints YES Smart Tracking YES Power triggered auto-logging YES    Technical Spec: Dimension 44.5x28.5x13.8mm Weight 21.5g Wireless connect with mobile phones Yes  Wireless Chipset Nordic nRF 52820 Wireless range 20m GPS Chipset MTK MT3337 Antenna Patch Antenna Channels   22 tracking / 66 acquisition-channel GPS receiver; Supports up to 210 PRN channels; GNSS support GPS & QZSS SBAS support WAAS/EGNOS/MSAS/GAGAN Other enhancement     12 multi-tone active interference cancellers (with ISSCC2011 award); Indoor and outdoor multi-path detection and compensation; Internal real-time clock (RTC); RTCM ready YES NEMA support NMEA 0183 standard V3.01 and backward compliance. Supports 219 different data update rates for position 10 Hz GPS Sensitivity Acquisition: -148 dBm (cold) / -163 dBm(hot) Tracking: -165 dBm Cold Start < 35sec Warm Start < 34sec Hot Start <1 sec USB cable micro-usb, USB 2.0 Battery 380mAh LED Blue & Red Operating Temperature -10 ~ +50°C Water-resist YES GPS Logger YES GPS Receiver USB Memory 65000 Motion Detection NO Disable Button YES Disable Wireless YES Disable LED flashing YES Setup wireless download password YES Enable wireless upon schedule YES Configure wireless broadcast interval YES Broadcast latest GPS position YES Configure wireless TX Power (output power of wireless signal) YES Rename device (such as nickname) YES Power Saving Option above 7sec NO Firmware update via PC software Device configuration via USB or wirelessly Data download via USB or wirelessly Combined maps YES GPS Data Import format GPX GPS Data Export format GPX, CSV  Software and compatibility: GT-120B comes with below software: Windows App: compatible with Windows 7, 8, 10 & 10 IOS App: compatible with IOS 12 and above Android App: compatible with Android 7 and above “I-gotU GPS” IOS / Android apps: GT-120B can connect to the “I-gotU GPS” app on iphone/Android wirelessly. The “I-gotU GPS” app has the below features: Wireless configurationInstead of connecting through a USB cable, you can now wirelessly change configuration settings of GT-120B through the iphone/Android app. Wireless data downloadYou can wirelessly download the log data from GT-120B to your smartphone. Battery and memory status on AppTo check the status of the device’s battery and memory, open the "i-gotU GPS" app. Find my Device on Google MapYou can view the locations of your devices on Google maps from your mobile phone.    “I-gotU GPS” Windows application: The new “I-gotU GPS” Windows software has the below new features: playback group movement measure distance from waypoint A to B. measure distance from different anchor points. Package content: 1 x GPS logger; 1 x USB cable; (Does NOT comes with Jelly case or fastening strap.)   Youtube videos:   - i-gotU GT-120B / GT-600B Youtube video   Documents:   - User Guide   - side by side comparison for GT-120, GT-600, GT-120B and GT600B   Sample Data Downloads:   - Sample Data File in CSV format (original data recorded by GT-120B)  - Sample Data File in GPX format (original data recorded by GT-120B)     Blogs: - How to reset the i-gotU GT-120B / GT-600B device? - Side by side comparison for GT-120, GT-600, GT-120B and GT600B   - When charging multiple GT-120B/GT-600B devices simultaneously, please avoid the following.   Software Downloads: (To download the app for Windows, iOS or Android devices, simply click the link below that corresponds to your device.)  

CanadaGPS.ca

DIY Instructions

After the two day acclimation period, with the GPS is programed, insert the GPS unit into the case and proceed to track your cat for a 10 day period.

Cat Tracker 2.0

Regarding your question on sampling frq: We have been using 8Hz (and 10 Hz on the Audiologger Acceleration logging) for our slow moving muskoxen. For an animal like a dog, you probably want to sample at somewhat higher frq. This group used 50Hz in a study of arctic fox: 

Digging into the behaviour of an active hunting predator: arctic fox prey caching events revealed by accelerometry - Movement Ecology

Background Biologging now allows detailed recording of animal movement, thus informing behavioural ecology in ways unthinkable just a few years ago. In particular, combining GPS and accelerometry allows spatially explicit tracking of various behaviours, including predation events in large terrestrial mammalian predators. Specifically, identification of location clusters resulting from prey handling allows efficient location of killing events. For small predators with short prey handling times, however, identifying predation events through technology remains unresolved. We propose that a promising avenue emerges when specific foraging behaviours generate diagnostic acceleration patterns. One such example is the caching behaviour of the arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus), an active hunting predator strongly relying on food storage when living in proximity to bird colonies. Methods We equipped 16 Arctic foxes from Bylot Island (Nunavut, Canada) with GPS and accelerometers, yielding 23 fox-summers of movement data. Accelerometers recorded tri-axial acceleration at 50 Hz while we obtained a sample of simultaneous video recordings of fox behaviour. Multiple supervised machine learning algorithms were tested to classify accelerometry data into 4 behaviours: motionless, running, walking and digging, the latter being associated with food caching. Finally, we assessed the spatio-temporal concordance of fox digging and greater snow goose (Anser caerulescens antlanticus) nesting, to test the ecological relevance of our behavioural classification in a well-known study system dominated by top-down trophic interactions. Results The random forest model yielded the best behavioural classification, with accuracies for each behaviour over 96%. Overall, arctic foxes spent 49% of the time motionless, 34% running, 9% walking, and 8% digging. The probability of digging increased with goose nest density and this result held during both goose egg incubation and brooding periods. Conclusions Accelerometry combined with GPS allowed us to track across space and time a critical foraging behaviour from a small active hunting predator, informing on spatio-temporal distribution of predation risk in an Arctic vertebrate community. Our study opens new possibilities for assessing the foraging behaviour of terrestrial predators, a key step to disentangle the subtle mechanisms structuring many predator–prey interactions and trophic networks.

BioMed Central

 

 

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discussion

Bird Acoustic Surveys: Comparison with traditional transect methods

Carlos Abrahams

6 November 2023 9:32am

Baker Consultants Releases Whitepaper Comparing Traditional & Ecoacoustic Bird Survey MethodsBaker Consultants is pleased to announce the release of its latest ecoacoustics...

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Theresa Stratmann

22 November 2023 3:24pm

Thank-you for sharing this study, I read it with interest! I was wondering, in doing this study did you also get a feel for how these methods compare in terms of time and costs and required skills? As a practitioner I am still a bit worried about the amount time required for set up, maintenance, data management, species identification, and analysis. 

Carlos Abrahams

4 December 2023 11:36am

Hi Theresa.  In comparison to traditional survey, I think that the time/cost benefits of acoustics are good.  Certainly the set-up, maintenance, and data management requirements are minimal. And if there is significant travel time to site, and the recording period of acoustic survey is long, then I think the benefits are compounded (i.e. there are economies of scale to acoustics that you don't get with trad surveys).



Until the last year or two, the data analysis for species identification has been the time-consuming part.  However, now that systems such as BirdNET are available, this issue is fairly well dealt with (but still needs a little bit of skill/experience).



A couple of scientific papers have assessed these costs/benefits - I hope these make an interesting read.

Carlos

 

The Use of Automated Bioacoustic Recorders to Replace Human Wildlife Surveys: An Example Using Nightjars

To be able to monitor and protect endangered species, we need accurate information on their numbers and where they live. Survey methods using automated bioacoustic recorders offer significant promise, especially for species whose behaviour or ecology reduces their detectability during traditional surveys, such as the European nightjar. In this study we examined the utility of automated bioacoustic recorders and the associated classification software as a way to survey for wildlife, using the nightjar as an example. We compared traditional human surveys with results obtained from bioacoustic recorders. When we compared these two methods using the recordings made at the same time as the human surveys, we found that recorders were better at detecting nightjars. However, in practice fieldworkers are likely to deploy recorders for extended periods to make best use of them. Our comparison of this practical approach with human surveys revealed that recorders were significantly better at detecting nightjars than human surveyors: recorders detected nightjars during 19 of 22 survey periods, while surveyors detected nightjars on only six of these occasions. In addition, there was no correlation between the amount of vocalisation captured by the acoustic recorders and the abundance of nightjars as recorded by human surveyors. The data obtained from the recorders revealed that nightjars were most active just before dawn and just after dusk, and least active during the middle of the night. As a result, we found that recording at both dusk and dawn or only at dawn would give reasonably high levels of detection while significantly reducing recording time, preserving battery life. Our analyses suggest that automated bioacoustic recorders could increase the detection of other species, particularly those that are known to be difficult to detect using traditional survey methods. The accuracy of detection is especially important when the data are used to inform conservation.

plosone
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discussion

Deploying Song Meters in Nigeria

Joan Banda

24 November 2023 9:01am

Exciting deployment of these acoustic song meters by Wildlife Acoustics, Inc. in another one of the Important Bird Areas in Nigeria - International institute of tropical...

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Carly Batist

28 November 2023 3:08pm

Hi Joan,

Sounds like a great project! I would recommend having a look at some of the nice review literature and guidelines that are out there, like - 

And some specific to nocturnal birds:

And a study on bird acoustic monitoring in Nigeria:

 

In terms of processing and analyzing the data, I work for Rainforest Connection which maintains Arbimon - a free, no-code ecoacoustic analysis platform to help automate species detection and classification within soundscapes. If you're interested, you can get started with our support docs!

There are also a number of stats packages for analyzing soundscape data (seewave, monitoR, warbleR in R; and OpenSoundscape, scikit-maad in Python).  

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discussion

New Raspberry Pi Sound Localizing ARU is now fully released and ready for use

Kim Hendrikse

7 October 2023 2:10pm

Hi All,My low cost Raspberry Pi based sound localizing ARU is now fully released and ready for use. You can download it from here: It installs and configures with just one...

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Chris Nicholas

23 November 2023 5:32pm

super cool - thanks for sharing!!

I'm wondering if this software might be adapted to post-processing recordings from a collection of Audiomoths, if they all had GPS synch, and reasonable care was taken to document their relative positioning.

Kim Hendrikse

23 November 2023 7:57pm

Well I’m just using the opensoundscape library whose purpose was likely exactly that.

http://opensoundscape.org/en/latest/

I would expect that there should be pointers to that sort of pipeline from audiomoth itself. But I’m just guessing.

But in short. So long as you can generate input for each as in the following example from at least three mics per event. The localization program will spit out a location.

51.01415,5.813725 2023-09-17_15-49-48.523601
51.015365,5.81165 2023-09-17_15-49-48.822030
51.016368332,5.814084879 2023-09-17_15-49-48.715324
51.015221667,5.815915 2023-09-17_15-49-48.545999
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discussion

Hydromoth for coastal & offshore surveying

Sol Milne

16 November 2023 7:36am

Hi all! I'm interested in deploying a Hydromoth on an Uncrewed Surface Vehicle (USV) to collect acoustic data for biodiversity analysis, for coastal and offshore marine surveys....

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Harold Tay

18 November 2023 1:47am

Hi Sol,

I think your concern is well placed.  The pros typically tow an array of hydrophones, in its simpler configuration it looks like a long fat rubber hose containing maybe a dozen transducers feeding their electrical signals to a recording unit back on the ship.  All this is done to reduce noise from the ship, from waves crashing, and flow noise.  The multiple transducers can also be electronically tuned to be directional so that it can be "pointed" away from a noise source (like the ship).

In your position, I would just try the simplest thing that could work, then fix the problems as they arise.  It could be you may need to be dead in the water while recording.  To address surface noise (slapping waves, wind), you could mount the hydromoth low down on a spar buoy, which you tow into position.

 

Best of luck, it sounds like an interesting project (c:

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discussion

Owl call detection software

Whitney Yoerger

17 October 2023 4:47am

I’m curious about AI software for analyzing nocturnal bird calls, particularly for detecting owl species. I currently use Nighthawk for help with processing my ARU audio files,...

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Christos Astaras

20 October 2023 2:33pm

Hello Whitney,

Arbimon, as Carly mentioned can be useful, as can the Cluster Analysis tool of Kaleidoscope Pro software. I would also recommend having a look at the new Learning Detector Tool of Raven Pro (link describing it is included below), which taps into the BirdNet database. Assuming you work in parts of the world where most (vocal) bird species are included (e.g. North America, Europe), then you can select the Learning Detector tool to scan for calls of the selected bird species with a threshold that you decide. 

All the best,

Christos

 

Machine Learning Detector – Quick Start Guide

Raven’s new Learning Detector uses TensorFlow machine learning technology to automatically detect and classify sounds. At present the Learning Detector includes BirdNET v2.2, which can detect and classify the sounds of more than 3,000 bird species, as well as machine learning models for the blue whale, North Atlantic Right Whale, and Panamanian katydids. You can also train your own TensorFlow-based machine learning models using Koogu and then integrate them into the Machine Learning Detector.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology - Cornell University
Arky

3 November 2023 12:40pm

Interesting! I am also embarking on something similar but thinking of using Raven Pro + BirdNet

Stuart Newson

17 November 2023 1:44pm

Colleagues of mine at the BTO have recently extended the functionality of the Acoustic Pipeline recently (which previously focused on the sound identification of European bats, small mammals and bush-crickets) to also include birds - to support batch processing of recordings. See link below.

This includes a specific classifier for nocturnal breeding birds in Europe - including European owls (also classifiers for nocturnal flight calls for migrant birds - NOCMIG etc.

For people that are happy to share individual clips that are of interest to us, the new bird sound identification functionality is free to use. 

I wasn't sure whether you were based in Europe, but if you are, this may be worth trying out.

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discussion

Flying with li-ion batteries

Nick Gardner

15 November 2023 8:24pm

Hi everyone, quick question about travelling with acoustic monitoring kit:Has anyone had experience flying international from the US with a load of 18650 Li-ion...

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Akiba

16 November 2023 2:26am

The 18650s should be packed in discrete holders to separate them and prevent them from shorting. I've taken up to 50 on a plane before. 100 might be a tall ask since most planes have limitations on total Amp Hours you can bring. 

These are the holders I use.

Good luck.

Nick Gardner

16 November 2023 4:01pm

Thanks Akiba, good to know you had no problems with those, and those cases look good. Having read a bit more, it actually seems that in theory there is no limit to the number of batteries you can bring, as long as each is <100Wh. Seems like I'll be testing that theory...

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discussion

Seeking AudioMoth in SF Bay Area

Dan Zevin

6 November 2023 8:48pm

Hello Everyone.  Dire situation here. A group or UC Berkeley undergrads is looking to borrow an AudioMoth. Theirs was lost in transit during delivery and their entire...

2 0
Tim Clark

7 November 2023 9:10pm

I have an AudioMoth that they are welcome to.  I'm down in Moss Beach (just north of Half Moon Bay).

Dan Zevin

8 November 2023 10:28pm

You're awesome Tim, thank you!  However, we ordered another from GroupGets yesterday and it's arriving tomorrow, so we (should) be good to go : )  Now if I can only get LabMaker to reimburse me for the one that didn't arrive, that would fix everything.  Unfortunately they've been incredibly slow to reply ....sigh

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discussion

Replacement (cheaper) foam mic covers

Bob Ashington

23 October 2023 3:35pm

Hi everyone; looking for a source of (cheaper) foam mic covers suitable for the stub mics on a Song Meter Mini.  I've always purchased the 'official' ones but as the price of...

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Flor Sangermano

3 November 2023 3:04pm

Hi! I got these ones from Amazon. Also, I was tired of creatures eating them so I created a shield using window mesh screen

 

Bob Ashington

6 November 2023 9:31am

Hi - thanks for your reply.  I've been thinking along the same lines though unsure where I'd purchase 'acoustic foam' from.  I've made 'dead cats' before for some of my active monitoring mics and that material is not too difficult to source but the only acoustic foam I've come across is the type for deadening sound in studio etc. - the exact opposite of what I want!!  The search continues ....!

Bob Ashington

6 November 2023 9:33am

Brilliant - thank you.!  Great idea about the screen too - I'm replacing some of them monthly so may try that myself.  Have you found any issues with the mesh generating any tones with wind?

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discussion

BirdWeather | PUC

Tim Clark

27 October 2023 7:45pm

Hi Everyone,I just found out about this site/network!I wanted to introduce myself - I'm the CEO of a little company called Scribe Labs.  We're the small team behind...

1 3
Alex Rood

2 November 2023 9:20pm

I love the live-stream pin feature!

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discussion

Searching for researchers working in Africa

Andrew Carter

25 September 2023 1:57am

Hi all,I work for World Vision Australia on a project called "Scale Up FMNR" (Famer Managed Natural Regeneration). At its most simple level, FMNR is a practice that encourages...

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Carly Batist

20 October 2023 7:45pm

Hi Andrew,

Rainforest Connection (RFCx) has projects in a couple different countries in that region, and also working with agroforestry systems to monitor biodiversity using acoustic monitoring! You can read more about that project (Kenya) here: https://rfcx.org/blog/monitoring-biodiversity-in-kenyan-agroforestry-parcels. We've also got a project working with small-scale cacao farmers in Colombia to monitor biodiversity in their cacao plots. For some background, RFCx is a non-profit focused using sound and AI to monitor biodiversity and detect threats, and we also manage the Arbimon acoustic analysis platform. 

I'd be happy to talk through ideas further if you'd like, feel free to reach out! [email protected] 

All the best,

Carly 

Vicki Hallett

21 October 2023 12:13am

HI Andrew,

I am replying to the "elsewhere". I am based in Aus but travel and work in the Arts/ Science field of field recording, often with scientists. I have been acoustic monitoring a peri-urban site in Victoria with a local council. The subject is a wetland, transferring from farmland to a wetland public space that is now surrounded and impacted by urban infrastructure. I was lucky enough to get sounds before, during and after CoVid lockdowns so we can hear a stark comparison of anthropogenic sound.

I'd love to chat further about this and other work I do if this fits your collaboration criteria. 

Best,

Vicki

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discussion

PAM workflow and file question

Caroline Rowley

27 October 2023 3:50pm

Hey everyone,I have been working in Arbimon to identify the call of an animal I'm studying (hack call of Ceropithecus nictitans), and have 400 presences and 500 absences in my...

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Kim Hendrikse

29 October 2023 10:59am

Like this:

ffmpeg -i input.wav -f segment -segment_time 60 -c copy output%03d.wav
 

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article

In case you missed it... (no.2)

Stephanie O'Donnell

27 October 2023 1:20pm

Five #tech4wildlife people, projects and updates that caught my attention this month. This issue is a naturetech, biodiversity startup edition! Featuring a living map of the biodiversity startup scene, is nature data...

1
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careers

Acoustic Monitoring Specialist

Mandy Holmgren

26 October 2023 7:32pm

The Institute for Bird Populations (IBP) seeks a California-based acoustic monitoring specialist to collect, manage, and process avian acoustic data from multiple research and conservation projects across California...

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Link

Soundscapes and deep learning enable tracking biodiversity recovery in tropical forests

Stephanie O'Donnell

20 October 2023 3:38pm

New paper in Nature Communications from Jörg Müller et al. using BAR-LT recorders and CNNs to track biodiversity recovery. Study shows that #soundscapes 🎙🎶 and deep learning are powerful tools for tracking biodiversity recovery in tropical forests

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discussion

Is there a good resource for learning bird calls?

Stephanie O'Donnell

20 October 2023 12:13pm

This question popped up on Twitter (or x?) and has had some interesting replies! I thought I'd start it as a discussion here too, and not limit it to australia, as it feels...

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Stephanie O'Donnell

20 October 2023 12:19pm

Some of the recommendations Kylie has been getting: 

Stephanie O'Donnell

20 October 2023 12:21pm

A few more! 

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