The science of birdsong and the spectrogram, the technique that changed it all

Abstract

It is common for significant advances in science to come hand in hand with innovative techniques. The study of birdsong was able to immensely expand incorporating novel rigorous investigations when a graphic and informative representation of sound was achieved. The result of this technique, the spectrogram, allows describing the pitch modulations and timbre properties of sounds as a function of time. In this paper we review its history and some of its applications.