CAREER: Instruments and Algorithms for Marine Mammal Behavioral Acoustics

本项目应用现代信号处理技术，为海洋哺乳动物的行为研究开发新的仪器和算法。这些项目的具体重点将放在帮助理解这些动物的声音和身体行为之间联系的工具上。在对这个问题的大多数调查中，一个共同的困难是对大部分时间都在水面下度过的动物进行广泛的观察。因此，陆生动物的视觉行为观察技术效果有限，我们必须寻求结合现代信号处理和声学技术的观察方法。本项目将开发三个这样的工具。第一个是水下视频/音频记录器，它可以指示视频图像中的哪个动物在发出声音。第二个是控制宽吻海豚口哨声合成的算法，以便对这些口哨声的哪些声学特征对动物来说是重要的进行控制测试。最后一个项目是正在开发的识别和分类海洋哺乳动物叫声的计算机算法，研究根据它们的叫声识别特定个体的可能性。该项目还包括鼓励生物学家和工程师之间合作学习的课堂活动。通过参与几个水族馆展览的设计，公众将提高对海洋中声音重要性的认识。

9733391 Buck This project applies modern signal processing techniques to develop new instruments and algorithms for behavioral studies of marine mammals. The specific focus of the projects will be on tools to help understand the link between the vocal and physical behavior of these animals. An common difficulty in most investigations into this question is obtaining extensive observations of animals which spend a majority of their time beneath the surface of the water. For this reason, the visual behavioral observation techniques used for terrestrial animals are of limited effectiveness, and we must pursue observation methods incorporating modern signal processing and acoustical techniques. This project will develop three such tools. The first is an underwater video/audio recorder which can indicate which animal in the video picture is making the sound. The second is an algorithm for the controlled synthesis of bottlenose dolphin whistles to allow controlled tests of which acoustic features of these whistles are important to the animals. The final project is the ongoing development computer algorithms for recognition and classification of marine mammal calls investigating the possibility of identifying specific individuals based on their calls. The project also incorporates classroom activities encouraging collaborative learning between biologists and engineers. Public awareness of the importance of sound in the ocean will be raised through participation in the design of several aquaria exhibits.