Acoustic sensors enable efficient and non-invasive monitoring of a wide range of species, including many that are difficult to monitor in other ways. Although they were initially limited in application scope largely due to cost and hardware constraints, the development of low-cost, open-source models like the Audiomoth in recent years has increased access immensely and opened up new avenues of research. For example, some teams are using them to identify illicit human activities through the detection of associated sounds, like gunshots, vehicles, or chainsaws (e.g. OpenEars).
With this relatively novel dimension of wildlife monitoring rapidly advancing in both marine and terrestrial systems, it is crucial that we identify and share information about the utility and constraints of these sensors to inform efforts. A recent study identified advancements in hardware and machine learning applications, as well as early development of acoustic biodiversity indicators, as factors facilitating progress in the field. In terms of limitations, the authors highlight insufficient reference sound libraries, a lack of open-source audio processing tools, and a need for standardization of survey and analysis protocols. They also stress the importance of collaboration in moving forward, which is precisely what this group will aim to facilitate.
If you're new to acoustic monitoring and want to get up to speed on the basics, check out these beginner's resources and conversations from across the WILDLABS platform:
Three Resources for Beginners:
- Listening to Nature: The Emerging Field of Bioacoustics, Adam Welz
- Ecoacoustics and Biodiversity Monitoring, RSEC Journal
- Monitoring Ecosystems through Sound: The Present and Future of Passive Acoustics, Ella Browning and Rory Gibb
Three Forum Threads for Beginners:
- AudioMoth user guide | Tessa Rhinehart
- Audiomoth and Natterjack Monitoring (UK) | Stuart Newson
- Help with analysing bat recordings from Audiomoth | Carlos Abrahams
Three Tutorials for Beginners:
- "How do I perform automated recordings of bird assemblages?" | Carlos Abrahams, Tech Tutors
- "How do I scale up acoustic surveys with Audiomoths and automated processing?" | Tessa Rhinehart, Tech Tutors
- Acoustic Monitoring | David Watson, Ruby Lee, Andy Hill, and Dimitri Ponirakis, Virtual Meetups
Want to know more about acoustic monitoring and learn from experts in the WILDLABS community? Jump into the discussion in our Acoustic Monitoring group!
Header image: Carly Batist
Tech & Partnerships at CWS | Tech4Good | Sustainability | Biodiversity | Climate Action | Heartfulness
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PhD candidate studying the impact of sound on fish behavior and physiology
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Dendrologist, interested in monitoring biodiversity in ecosystems using bioacoustics.
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PhD Student on bio- and ecoacoustics at the University of Freiburg (GER)
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Hi, Cynthia Gichimu here. I'm a conservationist, and a champion for youths. I believe in environmental sustainability for posterity. I volunteer as a Project Officer with the Friends of Kinangop Plateau, a community-based local action group committed to biodiversity conservation.
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IT Engineer at The Conservation Tech Lab in Ol Pejeta Conservancy. |Endeavoring to implement tech solutions for conservation.
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Careers
Six Rivers Africa - Head of Research Operations
Benjamin Barca
Coordinate and implement conservation and research strategies for Six Rivers Africa, an NGO based in Tanzania and working in National parks in Southern and western Tanzania. Coordinate Conservation, Research and...
10 March 2023
Article
New paper in Trends in Parasitology discusses how acoustic monitoring can be used to assess presence and overlap of host or reservoir species, disease vectors and human activity.
8 March 2023
Careers
Proposals wanted for Innovation in Practice
Ellie Warren
The Innovation in Practice edition of Methods in Ecology and Evolution is still seeking proposals about conservation technology
6 March 2023
1
Article
In this study, we used a network of acoustic sensors to record the gun hunting pressure at known hunting sites in the Ionian Islands, Greece—a known poaching hot-spot—over four spring migrations (2019–2022).
24 February 2023
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Article
The Arbimon newsletter is back!
Carly Batist
Rainforest Connection (RFCx) is bringing back the Arbimon newsletter for 2023! We're excited to share new features and tools of the platform, what's coming up, and some insights into our projects on bioacoustic...
23 February 2023
3
Article
New guidance - Good practice for ecoacoustic monitoring
Carlos Abrahams
We're very pleased to announce the publication of new 'Good practice guidelines for long-term ecoacoustic monitoring in the UK', produced by Manchester Metropolitan University, Baker Consultants Ltd and a great team of...
23 February 2023
3
Careers
Rainforest Connection (RFCx), in collaboration with USFWS, seek four Puerto Rican field agents to assist in deploying and retrieving audio recorders for a long-term biodiversity monitoring project in and around six...
22 February 2023
Careers
Research Assistants in Kitzes Lab
Justin Kitzes
Our group once again has openings for Research Assistants to work with us on our bioacoustics projects. A job ad and description of how to apply are below - please feel free to get in touch with any questions!
16 February 2023
Careers
Swift Software Developer - Lab of Ornithology
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
The Cornell University Lab of Ornithology is seeking a Software Developer to join the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics.
10 February 2023
Careers
Research Associate - Machine Learning (Underwater Sound)
Stephanie O'Donnell
You will develop and apply novel approaches and machine learning techniques for the detection, classification and identification of marine fauna from passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) validated with paired visual...
10 February 2023
Careers
Technical Officer – IMOS Animal Tracking Facility
Stephanie O'Donnell
IMOS Animal Tracking Facility is hiring a Technical Officer to assist with the preparation, deployment and maintenance of acoustic receivers to monitor movements of tagged animals & continue to develop operational...
7 February 2023
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Harry Rust
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| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hi Adam!I mostly live within the ecoacoustics space so I'll just speak on the hydrophone part of your request; Arbimon is a free web/cloud-based platform with unlimited storage... |
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Acoustic Monitoring, Autonomous Camera Traps for Insects, Camera Traps, Data management and processing tools , Drones, Remote Sensing & GIS, Software and Mobile Apps | 2 days 7 hours ago | |
| Hi Nick,First up, disclaimer that I'm not really into hardware stuff, but here's my best understanding.Shameless plug but take a look here if you haven't already - there's a... |
+14
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Acoustic Monitoring, Sensors | 2 days 17 hours ago | |
| Hi Justin, Dropping in a question you've received over on twitter: |
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Acoustic Monitoring | 3 weeks 5 days ago | |
| Cleaning the water damaged audiomoth boards is in full swing:Left before, right after cleaning |
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Acoustic Monitoring | 1 month 2 weeks ago | |
| Rainforest Connection's (RFCx) Guardian devices may be of interest. They are solar-powered and have connectivity options for Wifi, GSM and satellite transfer. They've previously... |
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Acoustic Monitoring, AI for Conservation, Connectivity, Data management and processing tools , Protected Area Management Tools, Sensors | 1 month 3 weeks ago | |
| Hi Jacob, you are the first one but I have been talking to other scientist about their projects. Right now we are recording and hopefully automatically detecting... |
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Acoustic Monitoring | 1 month 3 weeks ago | |
| Dear Antonio,It is a long-shot, but this may be relevant to what you are looking for? I have collected across 4 seasons (2022) 8-10 days/season acoustic data from 11 stations... |
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Acoustic Monitoring | 2 months 1 week ago | |
| Hello All - @sarabeery et Al have just put a pre-print out on their educational insights into teaching Computer Vision to ecologists. I... |
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Acoustic Monitoring, AI for Conservation, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Early Career, Emerging Tech | 2 months 2 weeks ago | |
| The Conservation Technology Lab at San Diego Zoo seeks undergrads for summer projects in computer vision, machine learning, bioacoustics,... |
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Acoustic Monitoring, AI for Conservation, Conservation Tech Training and Education | 3 months ago | |
| As an update from us, we are playing around with two alternatives:Banana PI BPI-M5 M5 4GB 4 x 2GHz Radxa Rock 4 SE I'll update once we have results! |
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Acoustic Monitoring, Build Your Own Data Logger Community, Camera Traps, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions | 4 months ago | |
| Full article here: Lauha, P., Somervuo, P., Lehikoinen, P., Geres, L., Richter, T., Seibold, S., & Ovaskainen, O. (2022).... |
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Acoustic Monitoring, AI for Conservation, Citizen Science, Software and Mobile Apps | 4 months 1 week ago | |
| Yeah, it's an exciting project. Also will be a great excuse to improve PAMGuard documentation - something sorely needed. Python libraries also on the way as part of this.As for... |
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Acoustic Monitoring | 4 months 2 weeks ago |
Alex Rogers: Acoustic Devices for Biodiversity Monitoring — Smart Forests Atlas
24 March 2023 12:28pm
In this radio episode, we speak to Alex Rogers, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford. We discuss how Alex's research team developed the acoustic recording device AudioMoth, how low-cost technologies can democratise biodiversity monitoring, and how sensing technologies can lead to certain species and environments being monitored more than others.
Interviewers: Max Ritts and Michelle Westerlaken
Producer: Harry Murdoch
The Variety Hour: March
23 March 2023 11:09am
Exploring storage options for mass data collection
22 March 2023 3:20am
Song Meter Micro experience?
27 October 2022 6:33pm
21 March 2023 11:40am
Our original tweet about this question is still getting replies! @baddiwad just jumped in to share her experiences in South Africa. I'm looking forward to our Inventory going live so all these can be captured in reviews on different hardware product pages!
21 March 2023 11:45am
Hi Lucy,
Slow reply, sorry! Did you catch this thread from @jkitzes about the comparison of AudioMoth and Song Meter Micro battery life tests? It might be useful:
22 March 2023 8:56am
Hi Nick,
First up, disclaimer that I'm not really into hardware stuff, but here's my best understanding.
Shameless plug but take a look here if you haven't already - there's a fairly thorough discussion of available hardware:
Secondly, I've not really used SM Mini (got one sat in a draw largely unused) but have heard feedback from several people, including a highly respected wildlife sound recorder yesterday. All have found that the very strange frequency response with a big peak in response at 6kHz to be a big problem, leading to odd recording quality and difficulty trusting results. I think particularly in Amazonia, you're likely to find a big peak in insect stridulation amplitude at around the 6kHz mark at any time away from the dawn chorus, so setting gain that will capture a large amount of other taxa without being completely dominated by insect noise ta 6Khz would seem a pretty impossible challenge.
If I was starting anew project now, I think my first choice would be SM Mini, although I think I'd take a good look at Titley Chorus, and Audiomoths if I could get my hands on any.
Good luck, and feel free to DM me on Twitter if you want to chat about Amazonian recording (@ecoacou_ollie). I don't check Wildlabs as often as I should (sorry Steph!), despite it beinga fantastic resource.
Cheers,
Ollie
Frequency response plot from Wildlife Acoustics website:
Six Rivers Africa - Head of Research Operations
10 March 2023 11:19am
Using acoustic monitoring to track infectious disease risk
8 March 2023 1:29pm
Proposals wanted for Innovation in Practice
Ellie Warren
6 March 2023 10:34pm
USD500 available for your workshop
6 March 2023 1:30pm
AudioMoth and Song Meter Micro battery life tests
16 February 2023 4:09pm
24 February 2023 2:20pm
Hi Justin, looks like the link is not working!
24 February 2023 5:23pm
Should work now - a stray full stop snuck in there!
26 February 2023 2:58pm
Hi Justin,
Dropping in a question you've received over on twitter:
Use of passive acoustic monitoring methods to estimate poaching pressure of European turtle doves in Greece (Ionian Islands)
24 February 2023 12:54pm
The Arbimon newsletter is back!
23 February 2023 11:34pm
New guidance - Good practice for ecoacoustic monitoring
23 February 2023 10:31am
Acoustic monitoring fieldwork positions in Puerto Rico
22 February 2023 2:41pm
Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society’s Annual Meeting 2023
20 February 2023 10:56pm
Research Assistants in Kitzes Lab
16 February 2023 4:12pm
Developing Two Non-invasive Survey Methods for Freshwater Ecosystems: Environmental DNA and Ecoacoustics
10 February 2023 10:41am
Interesting PhD thesis just shared via ResearchGate, looking at developing eDNA and bioacoustics to 1) detect invasive/endangered crayfish & identify rivers vulnerable to invasion, and 2) Describe pond soundscape ecology/phenology, & provide guidelines for survey design.
Swift Software Developer - Lab of Ornithology
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
10 February 2023 10:38am
Research Associate - Machine Learning (Underwater Sound)
10 February 2023 10:19am
Cleaning audiomoth circuit board
17 January 2023 11:42am
28 January 2023 5:40am
I'd also add that if the boards are just dirty or dusty, you can just remove all batteries, then wash with a toothbrush and water. Air dry (or use compressed air which speeds things up greatly) and then spot clean areas that need solvent with isopropanol as Harold mentioned. Also if you don't have access to conformal coating, you can also use a non-conductive clear lacquer. The conformal coating covers all the components and prevents short circuits due to conductive water (ie: salt water) or other contaminants. However if you do use a conformal coating, make sure all cables are connected first and the device is in the exact state that it will be deployed in. Also don't conformal coat the battery connectors since you'll want to change out batteries periodically.
2 February 2023 8:13am
Hi Akiba,
thanks for your this great advice! I used the conformal coating on parts
of the PCB with exposed metal but was has hesitent using it on the "backside" with
all the resistors and transistors. Also what about the "back" of the microfon. Might this side be coated?
Do you have any experience with coatings @alex_rogers
Greetings,
Robin
9 February 2023 9:56pm
Cleaning the water damaged audiomoth boards is in full swing:
Left before, right after cleaning
Technical Officer – IMOS Animal Tracking Facility
7 February 2023 12:30pm
Commercially available connected audio sensors
2 February 2023 3:08pm
2 February 2023 3:55pm
Hi!
I am not aware of any such connected loggers/recorders but they would be nice.
The AudioMoths have been revolutionary in providing audologging at a low cost but they take a lot of "data muling" (carrying SD cards in and out of the field sites) and swapping of batteries.
Cheers,
2 February 2023 7:50pm
Hi Lars, thanks for the response. We are using lots of Song Meter Micro's atm and they have proved to be resilient. Just need something which doesn't involve going on site regularly - but get the data off.
3 February 2023 7:04pm
Rainforest Connection's (RFCx) Guardian devices may be of interest. They are solar-powered and have connectivity options for Wifi, GSM and satellite transfer. They've previously been used for detecting e.g., gunshots or chainsaws (using edge computing) and then sending positive detections/alerts to folks on the ground. RFCx also hosts Arbimon, a free, no-code software platform that facilitates analysis of audio data as well. Happy to chat more if you'd like to talk further about it!
Job: Building a network of conservation tech across continents
2 February 2023 1:50pm
Hydromoth settings
9 May 2022 5:03pm
29 January 2023 12:44pm
Hi Robin,
Did you ever get any responses to your query? Just recovered a hydromoth I was testing for MPA monitoring, but all the files have no audio on them. Was curious what others were doing underwater.
Jake
2 February 2023 8:04am
Hi Jacob,
you are the first one but I have been talking to other scientist
about their projects. Right now we are recording and hopefully automatically detecting Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) vocalisations.
Did you find out why your files were empty or was the sound level just too low?
Greetings from Austria,
Robin
Consultancy opportunity: Wildlife monitoring specialist
31 January 2023 11:26am
AI for Forest Elephants Challenge
25 January 2023 3:34pm
Pandas & Prose with Karen Bakker and David Thau
19 January 2023 11:55pm
Apply Now: AI for Conservation Office Hours
18 January 2023 5:15pm
22 March 2023 7:36pm
Hi Adam!
I mostly live within the ecoacoustics space so I'll just speak on the hydrophone part of your request; Arbimon is a free web/cloud-based platform with unlimited storage for audio files. We've got an uploader app as well for mass-uploading lots of files. There's also a bunch of spectrogram visualization/annotation tools and analysis workflows available. It's AWS running under the hood.
I have some experience working directly with AWS & Microsoft Azure, and I've found personally that AWS was more user-friendly and intuitive for the (fairly simplistic) kinds of tasks I've done.