Incidental Sounds Research Articles

Surprising sounds influence risky decision making

Adaptive behavior depends on appropriate responses to environmental uncertainty. Incidental sensory events might simply be distracting and increase errors, but alternatively can lead to stereotyped responses despite their irrelevance. To evaluate these possibilities, we test whether task-irrelevant sensory prediction errors influence risky decision making in humans across seven experiments (total n = 1600). Rare auditory sequences preceding option presentation systematically increase risk taking and decrease choice perseveration (i.e., increased tendency to switch away from previously chosen options). The risk-taking and perseveration effects are dissociable by manipulating auditory statistics: when rare sequences end on standard tones, including when rare sequences consist only of standard tones, participants are less likely to perseverate after rare sequences but not more likely to take risks. Computational modeling reveals that these effects cannot be explained by increased decision noise but can be explained by value-independent risky bias and perseveration parameters, decision biases previously linked to dopamine. Control experiments demonstrate that both surprise effects can be eliminated when tone sequences are presented in a balanced or fully predictable manner, and that surprise effects cannot be explained by erroneous beliefs. These findings suggest that incidental sounds may influence many of the decisions we make in daily life.

Art Is Magic

Art Is Magic

Hard ground / long road

My work is anchored in analog technology, found materials, field recordings, and the search for constellations of micro-narratives. In August 2021, I drove from San Francisco, California to London, Ontario. During the seventeen days on the road, I recorded radio noise (AM, FM picket-fencing) as well as my voice describing the environment surrounding the road at the times when I could not stop to take a photo. The sounds collected from the long road are recorded chronologically in an intaglio print. These recordings are the foundation of multidisciplinary sound and visual projects that coalesce as an installation exploring place/no-placeness, transience, precognition, repetition, delays, disappearance, and noise.
 Works selected for tba journal are pinhole photographs, a double-sided intaglio print, and a sound composition, that are all a part of the series described in my artist statement and share the title hard ground / long road. The print is reproduced at its original scale; the text is followed by the reverse side of the print, which is a line drawing. Two pinhole photographs bookend the works on paper. The sound companion to the visual works is a composition created on and with magnetic tape. The composition foregrounds incidental sounds of the process of making the work: tape splicing and rewinding. recorder fixing, road noise and tape hiss, woven with cut-up radio recordings.

FishSounds Version 1.0: A website for the compilation of fish sound production information and recordings

Many fish species use active sound production for communication in numerous behaviors. Additionally, likely all fish can make passive or incidental sounds that may also serve some signal functions. Despite the ecological importance of fish sounds, their evident passive acoustic monitoring applications, and extensive endeavors to document soniferous fish diversity, the fields of bioacoustics and ichthyology have historically lacked an easily accessible, global inventory of known fish sound production. To alleviate this limitation, we developed http://FishSounds.net, a website that compiles and disseminates fish sound production information and recordings. FishSounds Version 1.0 launched in 2021, cataloging documented examinations for active and passive sound production for 1185 fish species from 837 references as well as 239 exemplary audio recordings. FishSounds allows users to search by taxa (e.g., family or common name), geographical distribution (e.g., region or water body), sound type, or reference. We have also made available the code used to create the website, so that it may be used in other data-sharing efforts—acoustic or otherwise. Subsequent versions of the website will update the data and improve the website functionality. FishSounds will advance research into fish behavior, passive acoustic monitoring, and human impacts on underwater soundscapes; serve as a resource for public outreach; and provide the foundation needed to investigate more of the 96% of fish species that lack published examinations of sound production. We further hope the FishSounds design, implementation, and engagement strategies will serve as a model for future data management and sharing efforts.

Mixtapes from Heaven: The Global Duke Ellington Fandom and the Music they Preserved

The Rhodes S. Baker, Jr. Collection of rare and unissued sound recordings at the University of North Texas Music Library demonstrates that, in archival settings, the incidental content that is often deleted from commercial releases is actually “a feature, not a bug,” so to speak. This article elaborates on two reasons for the desirability and necessity of such content: First, it often provides the context necessary to make sense of a given recording, determining a date and release status, especially for recordings that are not well labeled. It also provides lasting evidence of the human activity underlying every aspect of the performance, capture, distribution, and preservation of a recording.
 The Rhodes S. Baker, Jr. Collection’s unissued recordings of Duke Ellington and other major jazz artists, packed onto reel-to-reel tapes like the “mixtapes” of decades later, have obvious intrinsic value. Still, preserving and acknowledging the human activity that compiled them adds value: doing so provides a window into the depth and intensity of the “fandom” (or community of fans) that thrived for Ellington even in his sixties, along with the multifaceted efforts to preserve his live performances.
 Ellington and his music created an international fan community, and their story augments his own. This article describes historically significant content from the Rhodes S. Baker, Jr. Collection, digitized in early 2016, in the context of the social participation of Baker and other fans and collectors, including the prominent Swedish collector and discographer Benny Aasland. The preservation and description of the collection demonstrates a complementary relationship between archival practice and musicologist Christopher Small’s concept of musicking. Insights from Pauline Oliveros and John Cage further inform an approach to musicking inclusive of incidental sounds and other artifacts of recorded live performance which might otherwise be dismissed as “noise,” but are essential to the full context of the captured performance.

Survival Sounds in Insects: Diversity, Function, and Evolution

Insect defense sounds have been reported for centuries. Yet, aside from the well-studied anti-bat sounds of tiger moths, little is understood about the occurrence, function, and evolution of these sounds. We define a defense sound as an acoustic signal (air- or solid-borne vibration) produced in response to attack or threat of attack by a predator or parasitoid and that promotes survival. Defense sounds have been described in 12 insect orders, across different developmental stages, and between sexes. The mechanisms of defensive sound production include stridulation, percussion, tymbalation, tremulation, and forced air. Signal characteristics vary between species, and we discuss how morphology, the intended receiver, and specific functions of the sounds could explain this variation. Sounds can be directed at predators or non-predators, and proposed functions include startle, aposematism, jamming, and alarm, although experimental evidence for these hypotheses remains scant for many insects. The evolutionary origins of defense sounds in insects have not been rigorously investigated using phylogenetic methodology, but in most cases it is hypothesized that they evolved from incidental sounds associated with non-signaling behaviors such as flight or ventilatory movements. Compared to our understanding of visual defenses in insects, sonic defenses are poorly understood. We recommend that future investigations focus on testing hypotheses explaining the functions and evolution of these survival sounds using predator-prey experiments and comparative phylogenetics.

Electronic Music, Sampling, and the Tape Snippet: How the Experimental Studio of Polish Radio Made Itself Useful

Warsaw's Experimental Studio of Polish Radio (1957–2004) was integral to public media production in Poland. At the its consoles, composers and engineers studied acoustics, made incidental sounds for television, radio, and film, and composed large-scale works that circulated at new music festivals around the world during the Cold War. Their tape-oriented poetics, acoustic play, archival whimsy, and electronic production shaped the media imaginary of Polish science fiction, and provided soundtracks for radio plays and animated films for decades. Since its closure it has continued to generate creative projects that weave together an analogue electronic music past with the digital electronic music present. This article opens the doors to the Polish studio by following its central material, magnetic tape, through a range of contexts: the first composition realised at its consoles, a hip-hop history of the Polish twentieth century, as part of a cold-war gift economy among artist friends, and as the basis of a sample pack offered to users of the digital audio workstation Ableton Live. This material history reveals a range of uses for tape that urge us to revisit what it means for an arts institution under state socialism to frame its relationship to society as utilitarian.

“… a riveder le stelle.”

CHARLES WUORINEN’S BASSOON VARIATIONS MATTHEW BARBER FESTSCHRIFT FOR CHARLES WUORINEN GIVES an author the opportunity to reread their dog-eared copy of Simple Composition. I can think of few works that left more of an impression on me as a very young composer; prior to this occasion I had not taken it up in about a decade, and I had forgotten just how much of it I had internalized. Milton Babbitt, who playfully called it Semi-Simple Composition in lessons, encouraged me to read it my freshman year at Juilliard. At the time I was also a semi-serious bassoonist, and learned of a curious piece by Wuorinen for bassoon, harp, and timpani: the Bassoon Variations (1971–72), his fifth of twelve sets of instrumental variations. The piece, while difficult, would not have been beyond my ability to play, but I had no hope of convincing a harpist or percussionist to pedal their way through it. I think the percussionist Samuel Solomon, who lived in my dormitory suite, must have introduced it to me knowing that I would appreciate some twelve-tone bassoon music; for his part, he found the timpani part to be just on the edge of playability. In his book How To Write For Percussion, Solomon has this to say: “Melodic capabilities on timpani are limited, but not as limited as one may think; complex A 24 Perspectives of New Music pedaling is difficult but very possible. Charles Wuorinen’s Bassoon Variations takes timpani to its melodic limit. The average timpani part of Béla Bartók’s . . . or Richard Strauss’s . . . are good examples of melodic capabilities within reason.”1 I take the qualifier “within reason” to suggest that while the Bassoon Variations’ timpani writing is possible, a composer should not attempt this kind of writing— without the help of a timpanist—because they will most likely lack the requisite skill. The harp part is also very difficult, sometimes requiring one or more pedal changes per attack, but it is ingeniously written for the instrument. In any case, I find the choice of two of the most operose pedaled instruments to accompany the key-noisy and acoustically maladroit bassoon particularly inspired, as it gives the bassoonist room to embrace the incidental sounds of the instrument rather than to try to hide them as one is usually trained to. The combination is occasionally humorous, but always compelling.2 I mention Simple Composition above because of how much these variations depart from what I had taken to be the definitive Wuorinenian practice outlined in those pages. Most significantly, there appears to be no large-scale ordering of time-intervals, and surface rhythms only hint at a time-point organization; instead, rhythm is organized in broad polyrhythms and rhythmic motives. The Bassoon Variations reward careful study, and if it is not one of Wuorinen’s major compositions, I think the instrumental variations, taken collectively, are. I hope, given my past bassoonery, that this essay might inspire other bassoonists to find ambitious partners to program the work; I can think of no better gift, however small, to a composer who has loomed so large in my compositional unconscious. At the end of this essay I discuss the pedagogical value of these Bassoon Variations, as they are an excellent example for teaching twelve-tone composition in the classroom. THE BASSOON VARIATIONS’ ROW The Variations’ row, as with many of Wuorinen’s rows, is strikingly scale-like (Example 1); its interval succession consists only of interval classes 1 and 2, with a lone 3 at the end. This allows the timpanist to play through the scalar melodic fragments more easily—sometimes on single drums, as in other advanced timpani literature—as they will usually be re-tuning by a minor third or less at a time; other instruments can play them disjunctly for more variety in contour. The first hexachord is the octatonic segment [023568], which contains two Charles Wuorinen’s Bassoon Variations 25 [036] trichords spaced at a whole-step apart. Its complement, [023469], is the one hexachord that combines the [0369] tetrachord with a whole-step dyad. The two hexachords appear in their ascending prime form order, while a...

Charles Wuorinen's Bassoon Variations

CHARLES WUORINEN’S BASSOON VARIATIONS MATTHEW BARBER FESTSCHRIFT FOR CHARLES WUORINEN GIVES an author the opportunity to reread their dog-eared copy of Simple Composition. I can think of few works that left more of an impression on me as a very young composer; prior to this occasion I had not taken it up in about a decade, and I had forgotten just how much of it I had internalized. Milton Babbitt, who playfully called it Semi-Simple Composition in lessons, encouraged me to read it my freshman year at Juilliard. At the time I was also a semi-serious bassoonist, and learned of a curious piece by Wuorinen for bassoon, harp, and timpani: the Bassoon Variations (1971–72), his fifth of twelve sets of instrumental variations. The piece, while difficult, would not have been beyond my ability to play, but I had no hope of convincing a harpist or percussionist to pedal their way through it. I think the percussionist Samuel Solomon, who lived in my dormitory suite, must have introduced it to me knowing that I would appreciate some twelve-tone bassoon music; for his part, he found the timpani part to be just on the edge of playability. In his book How To Write For Percussion, Solomon has this to say: “Melodic capabilities on timpani are limited, but not as limited as one may think; complex A 24 Perspectives of New Music pedaling is difficult but very possible. Charles Wuorinen’s Bassoon Variations takes timpani to its melodic limit. The average timpani part of Béla Bartók’s . . . or Richard Strauss’s . . . are good examples of melodic capabilities within reason.”1 I take the qualifier “within reason” to suggest that while the Bassoon Variations’ timpani writing is possible, a composer should not attempt this kind of writing— without the help of a timpanist—because they will most likely lack the requisite skill. The harp part is also very difficult, sometimes requiring one or more pedal changes per attack, but it is ingeniously written for the instrument. In any case, I find the choice of two of the most operose pedaled instruments to accompany the key-noisy and acoustically maladroit bassoon particularly inspired, as it gives the bassoonist room to embrace the incidental sounds of the instrument rather than to try to hide them as one is usually trained to. The combination is occasionally humorous, but always compelling.2 I mention Simple Composition above because of how much these variations depart from what I had taken to be the definitive Wuorinenian practice outlined in those pages. Most significantly, there appears to be no large-scale ordering of time-intervals, and surface rhythms only hint at a time-point organization; instead, rhythm is organized in broad polyrhythms and rhythmic motives. The Bassoon Variations reward careful study, and if it is not one of Wuorinen’s major compositions, I think the instrumental variations, taken collectively, are. I hope, given my past bassoonery, that this essay might inspire other bassoonists to find ambitious partners to program the work; I can think of no better gift, however small, to a composer who has loomed so large in my compositional unconscious. At the end of this essay I discuss the pedagogical value of these Bassoon Variations, as they are an excellent example for teaching twelve-tone composition in the classroom. THE BASSOON VARIATIONS’ ROW The Variations’ row, as with many of Wuorinen’s rows, is strikingly scale-like (Example 1); its interval succession consists only of interval classes 1 and 2, with a lone 3 at the end. This allows the timpanist to play through the scalar melodic fragments more easily—sometimes on single drums, as in other advanced timpani literature—as they will usually be re-tuning by a minor third or less at a time; other instruments can play them disjunctly for more variety in contour. The first hexachord is the octatonic segment [023568], which contains two Charles Wuorinen’s Bassoon Variations 25 [036] trichords spaced at a whole-step apart. Its complement, [023469], is the one hexachord that combines the [0369] tetrachord with a whole-step dyad. The two hexachords appear in their ascending prime form order, while a...

Automatic detection and identification of brown stink bug, Euschistus servus, and southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula, (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) using intraspecific substrate-borne vibrational signals

Stink bugs cost the southeastern US cotton industry millions of dollars each year in crop losses and control costs. These losses are reduced by strategic pesticide applications; however, current methods of monitoring these pests for making management decisions are time-consuming and costly. Therefore, improved methods to identify and monitor these bugs must be investigated in order to optimize pesticide applications. One such method would be to exploit the substrate-borne vibrational signals (SBVSs) of these insects. Recordings of SBVS for two prevalent regional pests, the brown stink bug, Euschistus servus, and southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula, were segmented into separate pulses of variable duration based on signal energy. For each pulse, the linear frequency cepstral coefficients, dominant frequency, and duration were calculated and used as features. These features were classified using a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) and a probabilistic neural network (PNN) to discriminate these SBVS from incidental sounds and SBVS of different species from each other. Detection of SBVS generated by brown stink bugs was performed with over 92% accuracy for single male–female pairs with both PNN and GMM and with over 86% accuracy for 30 individuals with both PNN and GMM. Detection of SBVS generated by southern green stink bugs was performed with up to 82.5% accuracy with PNN and 68.0% accuracy with GMM for 30 individuals. Also, both PNN and GMM were over 90% accurate in identifying SBVS of brown and southern green stink bugs. Concurrent detection of SBVS from noise and identification of SBVS of brown and southern green stink bugs was 83.3% accurate using PNN and 71.5% accurate using GMM. These results indicated the capability of detecting and identifying stink bug species using their SBVS.

Zones of Practice: Embodiment and Creative Arts Research

This article presents the trans-disciplinary encounters with and perspectives on embodiment of three creative-arts practitioners within the Deakin University research project Flows & Catchments. The project explores how creative arts participate in community and the possibility of well-being. We discuss our preparations for creative work exhibited at the 2012 Lake Bolac Festival un regional Western Victoria, Australia

Incidental sounds of locomotion in animal cognition

The highly synchronized formations that characterize schooling in fish and the flight of certain bird groups have frequently been explained as reducing energy expenditure. I present an alternative, or complimentary, hypothesis that synchronization of group movements may improve hearing perception. Although incidental sounds produced as a by-product of locomotion (ISOL) will be an almost constant presence to most animals, the impact on perception and cognition has been little discussed. A consequence of ISOL may be masking of critical sound signals in the surroundings. Birds in flight may generate significant noise; some produce wing beats that are readily heard on the ground at some distance from the source. Synchronization of group movements might reduce auditory masking through periods of relative silence and facilitate auditory grouping processes. Respiratory locomotor coupling and intermittent flight may be other means of reducing masking and improving hearing perception. A distinct border between ISOL and communicative signals is difficult to delineate. ISOL seems to be used by schooling fish as an aid to staying in formation and avoiding collisions. Bird and bat flocks may use ISOL in an analogous way. ISOL and interaction with animal perception, cognition, and synchronized behavior provide an interesting area for future study.

The role of acoustic cues in the breeding repertoire of the brook stickleback

Sticklebacks are used as a model system in behavioral and evolutionary research, and therefore it is important to have a complete understanding of their biology. Despite this, the presence of acoustic signals has never been explored. This study examines acoustic cues in brook sticklebacks during courtship, spawning, egg guarding, and fry guarding. Although some fish produce sounds during spine flaring, results of this experiment showed that brook sticklebacks do not. Females did produce incidental sounds while depositing eggs in the nest. However, these were low intensity and seem unlikely to be heard over background noise.

Acoustic estimation of infestations and population densities of white grubs (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in turfgrass.

Incidental sounds produced by Phyllophaga crinita (Burmeister) and Cyclocephala lurida (Bland) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) white grubs were monitored with single- and multiple-sensor acoustic detection systems in turf fields and golf course fairways in Texas. The maximum detection range of an individual acoustic sensor was measured in a greenhouse as approximately the area enclosed in a 26.5-cm-diameter perimeter (552 cm2). A single-sensor acoustic system was used to rate the likelihood of white grub infestation at monitored sites, and a four-sensor array was used to count the numbers of white grubs at sites where infestations were identified. White grub population densities were acoustically estimated by dividing the estimated numbers of white grubs by the area of the detection range. For comparisons with acoustic monitoring methods, infestations were assessed also by examining 10-cm-diameter soil cores collected with a standard golf cup-cutter. Both acoustic and cup-cutter assessments of infestation and estimates of white grub population densities were verified by excavation and sifting of the soil around the sensors after each site was monitored. The single-sensor acoustic method was more successful in assessing infestations at a recording site than was the cup-cutter method, possibly because the detection range was larger than the area of the soil core. White grubs were recovered from >90% of monitored sites rated at medium or high likelihood of infestation. Infestations were successfully identified at 23 of the 24 sites where white grubs were recovered at densities >50/m2, the threshold for economic damage. The four-sensor array yielded the most accurate estimates of the numbers of white grubs in the detection range, enabling reliable, nondestructive estimation of white grub population densities. However, tests with the array took longer and were more difficult to perform than tests with the single sensor.

Masked Thresholds and Predicting the Audibility of Auditory Displays: An Example for Long-Haul Trucks

Noise is an unfortunate by-product of our modern industrial society, with effects ranging from minor annoyance, to major risk of hearing damage, to inability to hear warnings and other signals. This paper presents an extensive observational study of the methodology aimed at predicting the audibility of auditory displays and warnings. While the details of the discussion relate specifically to long-haul truck-cab environments, the procedures are generally applicable to any instance where it is necessary for an individual to hear intentional or incidental sounds. The discussion includes spectral measurements of both the background noise and signals, calculation of masked threshold per ISO 7731:1986(E), and analytical comparison of signal spectra to masked thresholds to determine signal audibility. A specific example calculating the audibility of train horns in the truck cab environment is then presented. Recommendations for improving the audibility of signals in noisy environments are also provided.

The Sense of Presence for the Suddenly Deafened Adult:Implications for Virtual Environments

Reports from adventitiously deafened individuals of a sense of unconnectedness with their surroundings, of a sense that the world seems “dead,” offer a compelling rationale for the argument that auditory cues are a crucial determinant of the sense of presence. Moreover, the crucial element of auditory stimulation for creating a sense of presence may be the auditory background, comprising the incidental sounds made by objects in the environment, rather than the communication and warning signals that typically capture our attention. Although designers of virtual environments have most often tried to maximize the sense of presence in the user by attempting to improve the fidelity of visual displays, the arguments presented here suggest that background auditory stimulation may be useful or even critical for achieving a full sense of presence.

Using Insect Sounds to Estimate and Monitor Their Populations

Accurate estimates of population size are needed to understand the population dynamics of any species. They are also needed to determine when to implement a specific control tactic, and to measure whether that control tactic has been effective. This paper discusses the use of acoustic signals produced by insects and the feasibility of using these signals to census populations. Insect sounds are either incidental (produced as a by-product of some activity) or non-incidental (produced to cause a response in some other animal). Incidental sounds differ from non-incidental sounds with respect to several features that are important to using sound to census populations. These features include species specificity, frequency content, ease of localization, distance traveled, and the duration and timing of sound production. Studies of crickets show that information about which individuals in a population are producing sound, when the individuals produce sound (seasonally and daily), and the probability that individuals produce sound during census periods must be known to accurately estimate the size of a population.

Sound production of humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, in Alaskan waters

Underwater sounds of feeding humpback whales were recorded 90–130 km south of Juneau in August, 1975. Although there were scattered grunts, yelps, moans, and low-frequency narrow-band pulses, as expected, the most pervasive sounds were trains of 25–80 Hz broadband pulses that had a mean repetition rate of 1 per sec. They were superposed on 40ndash;1250-Hz continuous noise which swelled and decayed as pulse trains began and ended, varying in duration from 15 to 100 sec. Incidental sounds made by surfaced animals were shrieks and trumpeting made through the blowholes and wide-band pulses produced by flipper or tail slaps on the water's surface. Also recorded were weaker wide-band pulse trains that were characterized by (1) Lack of energy below 500 Hz, (2) uneven amplitude and repetition interval, and (3) repetition rate of several per sec. The source of these pulses was believed to be clashing of baleen plates from wave action as a whale skimmed food organisms at the surface. Estimated maximum underwater source levels (referred to 1 μ Pa at 1 m) were grunt, 190 dB; trumpeting, 185 dB; tail slap, 183 dB; shriek, 180 dB; and low-frequency broadband pulse, 176 dB.