Aquatic Acoustic Metrics Interface Utility for Underwater Sound Monitoring and Analysis

Abstract

Fishes and marine mammals may suffer a range of potential effects from exposure to intense underwater sound generated by anthropogenic activities such as pile driving, shipping, sonars, and underwater blasting. Several underwater sound recording (USR) devices have been built to acquire samples of the underwater sound generated by anthropogenic activities. Software becomes indispensable for processing and analyzing the audio files recorded by these USRs. In this paper, we provide a detailed description of a new software package, the Aquatic Acoustic Metrics Interface (AAMI), specifically designed for analysis of underwater sound recordings to provide data in metrics that facilitate evaluation of the potential impacts of the sound on aquatic animals. In addition to the basic functions, such as loading and editing audio files recorded by USRs and batch processing of sound files, the software utilizes recording system calibration data to compute important parameters in physical units. The software also facilitates comparison of the noise sound sample metrics with biological measures such as audiograms of the sensitivity of aquatic animals to the sound, integrating various components into a single analytical frame. The features of the AAMI software are discussed, and several case studies are presented to illustrate its functionality.

Effects of hydrokinetic turbine sound on the behavior of four species of fish within an experimental mesocosm

“…Ladich and Fay (2013) recently published a review of fish hearing studies that included audiograms for over 100 fish species. To gain a better understanding of hearing sensitivity of different fish species to sound produced by HK turbines, we compared the SPL of the ORPC turbine recording as played in the sound exposure system to published hearing thresholds of similar and related fish species to those tested in this study (Ren et al, 2012, Wysocki et al, 2007Amoser andLadich, 2005, Mann et al, 2007; Fig. 7).…”

“…Due to the lack of data characterizing sound pressure and particle acceleration produced by HK turbines, further work is also needed to assess the sound characteristics of not only individual turbines but also the cumulative sound output of turbine arrays , and rainbow trout compared to the SPL produced during playback of the ORPC turbine recording at the loudest treatment level and 0.5 m distance from the speaker. Sources for hearing thresholds are Ren et al (2012) and Wysocki et al (2007).…”

“…A two channel amplifier (Model PA660, Polk Audio, Baltimore, MD, USA) powered both speakers with separate portable media players (Model SDMX24, SanDisk Corporation, Milpitas, CA, USA) providing independent audio and volume control through each channel. Output from the sound exposure system was characterized with an underwater sound recording (USR) device (described in Martinez et al 2011) Ren et al 2012). The USR is a laboratory-tested, battery-powered recording device composed of a hydrophone signal processing board and digital data recorder capable of storing approximately 2 hours of information from two hydrophones simultaneously.…”

Risk Retirement—Decreasing Uncertainty and Informing Consenting Processes for Marine Renewable Energy Development

“…Comparison of U.S. regulatory thresholds for marine mammals and fish for comparison with underwater noise measurements at the MRE project sites presented in Table 1. A word of caution: although most of the thresholds are provided as cumulative sound exposure level (SEL cum ), a couple are expressed in sound pressure level (SPL) and root mean square (RMS), and measurements at MRE project sites were expressed in a diversity of units (e.g., source level, source pressure level, sound pressure spectrum level) and direct comparison with the thresholds should be avoided (see [73] for a conversion tool). Table 3.…”

Software for Storage and Management of Microclimatic Data for Preventive Conservation of Cultural Heritage

“…The development of specific software for research purposes, especially in sensor applications, is of high importance in order to adapt to the particular case study and come to relevant conclusions about the recorded data with the maximum possible efficiency [1]. Today, the preventive conservation of the artistic legacy is a priority.…”