Animal Vocalizations Research Articles

NOMINA ANIMALIUM IN LATERCULUS BY POLEMIUS SILVIUS. THE BEGINNINGS OF THE LITURGICAL CALENDAR (5TH CENTURY)


 
 
 Creating Laterculus, Polemus Silvius, a 5th-century author, was the first to attempt to integrate the traditional Roman Julian calendar containing the pagan celebrations and various anniversaries with new Christian feasts. Laterculus, as it should be remembered, is a work that bears the features of a liturgical calendar. In addition to dates and anniversaries related to religion and the state, the calendar contains several other lists and inventories, including a list of Roman provinces, names of animals, a list of buildings and topographical features of Rome, a breviary of Roman history, a register of animal sounds and a list of weights and sizes. Therefore, Laterculus, just like a traditional Roman calendar, was also used for didactic purposes.
 This paper aims to refer in detail to the zoological vocabulary, specifically the register of animal names and sounds included in this source. Laterculus contains in total over 450 words divided into six groups, including 108 words in the four-legged animal section, 131 in the bird section, 11 crustaceans, 26 words for snakes, 62 words for insects and 148 for fish. The sounds of animals, which are also included in one of the lists added to this calendar and titled Voces variae animancium, are also worth mentioning. A brief discussion on the history of the Roman calendar and the liturgical calendar certainly helps to present the issue referred to in the title to its fullest extent.
 
 

Semantic Congruency Modulates the Effect of Attentional Load on the Audiovisual Integration of Animate Images and Sounds.

Attentional processes play a complex and multifaceted role in the integration of input from different sensory modalities. However, whether increased attentional load disrupts the audiovisual (AV) integration of common objects that involve semantic content remains unclear. Furthermore, knowledge regarding how semantic congruency interacts with attentional load to influence the AV integration of common objects is limited. We investigated these questions by examining AV integration under various attentional-load conditions. AV integration was assessed by adopting an animal identification task using unisensory (animal images and sounds) and AV stimuli (semantically congruent AV objects and semantically incongruent AV objects), while attentional load was manipulated by using a rapid serial visual presentation task. Our results indicate that attentional load did not attenuate the integration of semantically congruent AV objects. However, semantically incongruent animal sounds and images were not integrated (as there was no multisensory facilitation), and the interference effect produced by the semantically incongruent AV objects was reduced by increased attentional-load manipulations. These findings highlight the critical role of semantic congruency in modulating the effect of attentional load on the AV integration of common objects.

Categorical Auditory Working Memory in Crows.

SummaryThe ability to group sensory data into behaviorally meaningful classes and to maintain these perceptual categories active in working memory is key to intelligent behavior. Here, we show that carrion crows, highly vocal and cognitively advanced corvid songbirds, possess categorical auditory working memory. The crows were trained in a delayed match-to-category task that required them to flexibly match remembered sounds based on the upward or downward shift of the sounds' frequency modulation. After training, the crows instantaneously classified novel sounds into the correct auditory categories. The crows showed sharp category boundaries as a function of the relative frequency interval of the modulation. In addition, the crows generalized frequency-modulated sounds within a category and correctly classified novel sounds kept in working memory irrespective of other acoustic features of the sound. This suggests that crows can form and actively memorize auditory perceptual categories in the service of cognitive control of their goal-directed behaviors.

Novel approaches to characterize environmental noise pollution and its sources in rapidly developing cities: Application to the sub-Saharan African city of Accra, Ghana

Background: Cities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are growing at a faster rate than in any other continent. Numerous transport, industrial, and commercial sources of environmental noise pollution may be present, however, little is known about the levels and patterns of noise and its sources in SSA cities.Methods: We deployed an extensive monitoring campaign to characterize the space-time patterns of environmental noise and identify sources in the city of Accra, Ghana. We measured and analyzed sound level data and audio from ~150 locations that were monitored for either 7-days (n=140 locations) or 1-year (n=10 locations) from April 2019 to May 2020. We calculated metrics of environmental noise including A-weighted 24hr, day, and night sound levels (LAeq24hr, Lday, Lnight), and an event-based metric called the Intermittency Ratio (IR, % of event-based sound energy). Audio recordings were analyzed for types of sounds (i.e., sources) using a pre-trained neural network.Results: Most residential areas (95% of site-days) exceeded the national noise guidelines (Day 55; Night 48 dBA). Commercial, business, and industrial areas had the highest median Lday (69 dBA [Interquartile range (IQR) 59, 76]) and Lnight (63 dBA [IQR 58, 67]) and the lowest median percent of event-based sound (46% [IQR 30, 57]), while the inverse was true for peri-urban background areas. The most predominant sources of sound in the city were from road transport, animals, human speech, and outdoor music (present 75%, 24%, 23%, and 12% of the time, respectively), and these sounds varied between location and time with animal sounds occurring most often in background areas at night and road transport sounds in commercial, business, and industrial areas.Conclusion: Noise levels in Accra are higher than in most high-income country cities and should be prioritized as an environmental health risk in stronger policies and regulation.

Finding, visualizing, and quantifying latent structure across diverse animal vocal repertoires.

Animals produce vocalizations that range in complexity from a single repeated call to hundreds of unique vocal elements patterned in sequences unfolding over hours. Characterizing complex vocalizations can require considerable effort and a deep intuition about each species' vocal behavior. Even with a great deal of experience, human characterizations of animal communication can be affected by human perceptual biases. We present a set of computational methods for projecting animal vocalizations into low dimensional latent representational spaces that are directly learned from the spectrograms of vocal signals. We apply these methods to diverse datasets from over 20 species, including humans, bats, songbirds, mice, cetaceans, and nonhuman primates. Latent projections uncover complex features of data in visually intuitive and quantifiable ways, enabling high-powered comparative analyses of vocal acoustics. We introduce methods for analyzing vocalizations as both discrete sequences and as continuous latent variables. Each method can be used to disentangle complex spectro-temporal structure and observe long-timescale organization in communication.

Soundscape Viewer: An integrated toolbox of audio source separation for soundscape-based ecosystem assessment

Soundscapes contain collective information on habitat quality and ecosystem dynamics. Current soundscape assessment methods, including clustering and ecoacoustic indices, may deliver unsatisfied performance when multiple sound sources are recorded simultaneously. We introduce an open-source Soundscape Viewer toolbox for separating soundscapes into sounds of biological, environmental, and anthropogenic sources. Based on non-negative matrix factorization (NMF), Soundscape Viewer enables audio source separation in both supervised and unsupervised manners. Conventional supervised NMF learns spectral features from labeled animal vocalizations, yet the performance is sensitive to noise levels. By assuming source-specific periodicity in unsupervised NMF, Soundscape Viewer can learn discriminative features between animal vocalizations and background noise. To cope with dynamic acoustic environments, Soundscape Viewer also integrates adaptive and semi-supervised learning approaches. Adaptive learning improves model generalization when sound characteristics differ from the training data, and semi-supervised learning allows the model to recognize new sound sources. We applied Soundscape Viewer in the evaluation of soundscape dynamics and the automatic detection of animal vocalizations. Our results reveal that the mutual interference between sound sources can be effectively reduced in various ecosystems. Source separation will facilitate biodiversity assessment and increase our understanding of biotic and abiotic sounds' interactions.

Temporal context improves automatic recognition of call sequences in soundscape data

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are commonly employed for detecting animal vocalizations. We explored whether use of the temporal patterns in song notes can improve recognition. Fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) produce sequences of low-frequency, down-swept calls (20 Hz pulses) over many minutes. Timing between calls can be exploited to improve detection. We trained a base CNN model to detect 20 Hz pulses in 4 s audio segments. Then, we trained three variants of long short-term memory (LSTM) networks to process sequences produced by the CNN. In the first, the inputs to the LSTM were the scalar prediction scores from the CNN. The second examined sequences of features produced by the CNN before classification. The third combined the feature vectors and scores produced by the CNN. We conducted cross-validation experiments on recordings from the Southern California Bight collected between 2008 and 2014. All three variants outperformed the CNN. The precision-recall (PR) curves of the hybrid models dominated that of the base model, with improvements of 8%–13% in both peak F1-score and area under PR-curve. The second and third hybrid variants performed better than the first. CNN-LSTM hybrid models efficiently improve recognition of call sequences by incorporating temporal context.

Ingestive Behaviour Activities Based on Bioacoustic Signals in Grazing Cattle

This work focuses on the development of an autonomous, electronic platform based on bioacoustic techniques to monitor animal sounds related to ingestive activities and sub-activities in beef cattle. The authors have developed an electronic platform that leverage the usage of applications to predict health and welfare conditions based on the bioacoustic signals. The platform architecture is comprised of electronic subsystems covering the signal acquiring and filtering; sampling, processing, data storage system; and the coupling of the electronic and computing. The platform is coupled to the animal's halter so that the electronic system is in a case on the animal's forehead. Experiments were performed on grazing cattle (Nelore breed) in three field tests. The system was fully able to acquire, process, and store the animal's bioacoustic sounds. The authors used an audio file processing software to identify ingestive activities such as grazing, rumination, and idle periods. The results, based on the signal waveform, achieved high accuracy when compared to the visual monitoring method.

A Neurocognitive Comparison of Listening to Academic Lectures and Natural Sounds: Implications for Test Validity

ABSTRACT With the advent of new technologies, assessment research has adopted technology-based methods to investigate test validity. This study investigated the neurocognitive processes involved in an academic listening comprehension test, using a biometric technique called functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Sixteen right-handed university students completed two tasks: (1) a linguistic task that involved listening to a mini-lecture (i.e., Listening condition) and answering of questions (i.e., Questions condition) and (2) a non-linguistic task that involved listening to a variety of natural sounds and animal vocalizations (i.e., Sounds condition). The hemodynamic activity in three left brain regions was measured: the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), and posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG). The Listening condition induced higher activity in the IFG and pMTG than the Sounds condition. Although not statistically significant, the activity in the dmPFC was higher during the Listening condition than in the Sounds conditions. The IFG was also significantly more active during the Listening condition than in the Questions condition. Although a significant gender difference was observed in listening comprehension test scores, there was no difference in brain activity (across the IFG, dmPFC, and pMTG) between male and female participants. The implications for test validity are discussed.

EMPOWERING PARENTS IN INTRODUCTION TO SCIENCE IN EARLY AGE CHILDREN WITH THE THEME "SCIENCE IS FUN"

The responsibility of introducing science to early childhood should not only be borne by PAUD 
 teachers, but it should also have been introduced by parents at home. This empowerment activity 
 is focused on how the introduction of science to AUD can be done by parents at home, what media 
 can be made by parents to introduce science to early childhood. The target activities are the 
 Kumanis nagari community and Tanjung Bonai Aur Sijunjung Regency who have children aged 2 
 years - 6 years. The preparatory phase carried out includes: survey and stabilization and 
 determination of location and targets. The Stages of the Workshop are as follows: 1) Techniques to 
 read fairy tales about science: reading narratives, vocal techniques of cartoon characters to the 
 sounds of animals, nature and various types of machines as well as "story telling" to participants, 2) 
 Techniques of making fairy tales with natural themes, 3) Techniques to make science play tools for 
 AUD as well as simulating the use of these tools. Evaluation of activities is carried out during the 
 process and the end of the training. As for evaluating these activities, we conducted a 
 questionnaire. From the questionnaire assessment it can be concluded that the activity participants 
 were satisfied and gained new knowledge for their activities

Electrophysiological Evidence of Early Cortical Sensitivity to Human Conspecific Mimic Voice as a Distinct Category of Natural Sound.

Purpose From an anthropological perspective of hominin communication, the human auditory system likely evolved to enable special sensitivity to sounds produced by the vocal tracts of human conspecifics whether attended or passively heard. While numerous electrophysiological studies have used stereotypical human-produced verbal (speech voice and singing voice) and nonverbal vocalizations to identify human voice-sensitive responses, controversy remains as to when (and where) processing of acoustic signal attributes characteristic of "human voiceness" per se initiate in the brain. Method To explore this, we used animal vocalizations and human-mimicked versions of those calls ("mimic voice") to examine late auditory evoked potential responses in humans. Results Here, we revealed an N1b component (96-120 ms poststimulus) during a nonattending listening condition showing significantly greater magnitude in response to mimics, beginning as early as primary auditory cortices, preceding the time window reported in previous studies that revealed species-specific vocalization processing initiating in the range of 147-219 ms. During a sound discrimination task, a P600 (500-700 ms poststimulus) component showed specificity for accurate discrimination of human mimic voice. Distinct acoustic signal attributes and features of the stimuli were used in a classifier model, which could distinguish most human from animal voice comparably to behavioral data-though none of these single features could adequately distinguish human voiceness. Conclusions These results provide novel ideas for algorithms used in neuromimetic hearing aids, as well as direct electrophysiological support for a neurocognitive model of natural sound processing that informs both neurodevelopmental and anthropological models regarding the establishment of auditory communication systems in humans. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12903839.

Animal Sounds Classification Scheme Based on Multi-Feature Network with Mixed Datasets

Animal Sounds Classification Scheme Based on Multi-Feature Network with Mixed Datasets

Using the ecological significance of animal vocalizations to improve inference in acoustic monitoring programs.

Recent bioacoustic advances have facilitated large-scale population monitoring for acoustically active species. Animal sounds, however, can of information that is underutilized in typical approaches to passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) that treat sounds simply as detections. We developed 3 methods of extracting additional ecological detail from acoustic data that are applicable to a broad range of acoustically active species. We conducted landscape-scale passive acoustic surveys of a declining owl species and an invasive congeneric competitor in California. We then used sex-specific vocalization frequency to inform multistate occupancy models; call rates at occupied sites to characterize interactions with interspecific competitors and assess habitat quality; and a flexible multivariate approach to differentiate individuals based on vocal characteristics. The multistate occupancy models yielded novel estimates of breeding status occupancy rates that were more robust to false detections and captured known habitat associations more consistently than single-state occupancy models agnostic to sex. Call rate was related to the presence of a competitor but not habitat quality and thus could constitute a useful behavioral metric for interactions that are challenging to detect in an occupancy framework. Quantifying multivariate distance between groups of vocalizations provided a novel quantitative means of discriminating individuals with ≥20 vocalizations and a flexible tool for balancing type I and II errors. Therefore, it appears possible to estimate site turnover and demographic rates, rather than just occupancy metrics, in PAM programs. Our methods can be applied individually or in concert and are likely generalizable to many acoustically active species. As such, they are opportunities to improve inferences from PAM data and thus benefit conservation.

Pup Directed Vocalizations of Adult Females and Males in a Vocal Learning Bat

Social feedback plays an important role in human language development and in the vocal ontogeny of non-human animals. A special form of vocal feedback in humans, infant-directed speech – or motherese –facilitates language learning and is socially beneficial by increasing attention and arousal in the child. It is characterized by high pitch, expanded intonation contours and slower speech tempo. Furthermore, the vocal timbre (i.e. ’color’ of voice) of motherese differs from the timbre of adult-directed speech. In animals, pup-directed vocalizations are very common, especially in females. But so far there is hardly any research on whether there is a similar phenomenon as motherese in animal vocalizations. The greater sac-winged bat, Saccopteryx bilineata, is a vocal production learner with a large vocal repertoire that is acquired during ontogeny. We compared acoustic features between female pup-directed and adult-directed vocalizations and demonstrated that they differed in timbre and peak frequency. Furthermore, we described pup-directed vocalizations of adult males. During the ontogenetic period when pups’ isolation calls (used to solicit maternal care) are converging towards each other to form a group signature, adult males also produce isolation calls. Pups’ isolation calls are acoustically more similar to those of males from the same social group than to other males. In conclusion, our novel findings indicate that parent-offspring communication in bats is more complex and multifaceted than previously thought, with female pup-directed vocalizations reminiscent of human motherese and male pup-directed vocalizations that may facilitate the transmission of a vocal signature across generations.

Ecoacoustics: acoustic sensing for biodiversity monitoring at scale

Ecoacoustics: acoustic sensing for biodiversity monitoring at scale

THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS OF ANCIENT INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC

Music plays a vital role in each and every human being’s life. It’s undeniable that music affects human emotions whether it's sadness, happiness, anger, stress, or depression. Ancient Indian classical music originated 2000 years ago. It’s based on seven basic notes that were derived from sounds of birds and animals. The permutations and combinations of these notes create melodious structures with musical motifs called “Raga”. These Ragas create different types of emotions in mind that in turn make positive effects on the body. Different Ragas are sung (vocally) or played (instrumentally) in particular time of the day during the entire 24 hours for its immense positive impact on mind and body. Hence it is used in a form of therapy known as “Music therapy” to be used therapeutically to treat multiple diseases. The types of Ragas, time of different Raga and its effects on the human body therapeutically is shown in tabular form in this paper.

Animal communication in context

I read with interest the article “The sounds around us” by Megan McKenna (Physics Today, January 2020, page 28). I wonder if anyone is studying the sounds of animals communicating while they are confined in slaughterhouses or in trucks transporting them to slaughterhouses. Are those sounds different from the ones they make as they join the assembly line during slaughter? And does anyone study the sound of a dairy cow as its newborn calf is taken away? She must communicate a lot.My take is that communication among nonhuman animals is of no concern to humans when it comes to their taste buds or their pocketbooks. Section:ChooseTop of page <<© 2020 American Institute of Physics.

A crescendo in the inner structure of snorts: a reflection of increasing arousal in rock hyrax songs?

Acoustic and rhythmic temporal patterns may have important roles both in animal vocalizations and in human music. Male rock hyraxes, Procavia capensis , advertise their quality and emotional state by singing a long complex song, comprising repetitive elements. Research has revealed that the temporal structure of hyrax songs is similar to a musical crescendo, as it includes a gradual increase in amplitude, along with several additional acoustic and structural parameters, throughout the song. In hyrax songs, the snort is a relatively rare, low and harsh vocal element, which increases in number as the song progresses. We have previously shown that mean snort harshness is positively linked to both the singer's social status and testosterone levels, possibly reflecting inner arousal. Here, we measured the changes in snort harshness and length during natural hyrax songs. Our results indicate that in mature males, harshness, quantified by shimmer and jitter, increases as the song progresses. We suggest that increasing snort harshness may either (1) indicate the progression of inner excitement or aggression throughout the song or (2) that the harshness may reflect the difficulty of vocal control following increasing effort or the physical fatigue of the vocal cords. In western culture music, such progression is used to increase listener tension and thus retain attention, preventing possible habituation. Thus, understanding the development and progression of challenging elements within animal communication systems may reveal a key fundamental root of modern musical structure, and shed light on the evolutionary basis of musical perception. • Acoustic and rhythmic patterns are important in animal vocalizations and in music. • We found that harshness increases as rock hyrax song progresses. • Snort harshness may indicate excitement, aggression or difficulty of vocal control. • Complex elements in animal songs may help explain human music perception.

Acoustic allometry and vocal learning in mammals.

Acoustic allometry is the study of how animal vocalizations reflect their body size. A key aim of this research is to identify outliers to acoustic allometry principles and pinpoint the evolutionary origins of such outliers. A parallel strand of research investigates species capable of vocal learning, the experience-driven ability to produce novel vocal signals through imitation or modification of existing vocalizations. Modification of vocalizations is a common feature found when studying both acoustic allometry and vocal learning. Yet, these two fields have only been investigated separately to date. Here, we review and connect acoustic allometry and vocal learning across mammalian clades, combining perspectives from bioacoustics, anatomy and evolutionary biology. Based on this, we hypothesize that, as a precursor to vocal learning, some species might have evolved the capacity for volitional vocal modulation via sexual selection for 'dishonest' signalling. We provide preliminary support for our hypothesis by showing significant associations between allometric deviation and vocal learning in a dataset of 164 mammals. Our work offers a testable framework for future empirical research linking allometric principles with the evolution of vocal learning.

Implementation of Augmented Reality for Introduction To Android Based Mammalian Animals Using The Marker Based Tracking Method

Augmented Reality is a technology on 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional virtual objects that are combined into the real environment that is around us. With the ability of Augmented Reality that is able to change the atmosphere of children’s learning that can be used as a medium of learning in the introduction of mammals for kindergarten children. This AR can provide interesting facilities such as displaying 3-dimensional objects of these mammals along with animal sounds and animations using Smartphones, so that children can interact and be more creative in recognizing these mammals, because children experience their golden age at the age of 4 to 7 years which is a time when children begin to receive stimuli, so that children will be faster to receive and catch on learning from the introduction of these mammals by using Augmented Reality Technology. The results of testing on the Vuforia plugin and making the AR application on Unity can provide a good information result, where the use of AR can bring up mammalian objects by pointing the Smartphone at the marker, so that all mammals can be recognized properly. This shows that children’s interest around 85% in terms of UI/UX appearance, and 70% of children have no problems in running the Mammal Animal AR application