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Bio-acoustic tracking and localization using heterogeneous, scalable microphone arrays

ABSTRACT: Microphone arrays are an essential tool in the field of bioacoustics as they provide a non-intrusive way to study animal vocalizations and monitor their movement and behavior. Microphone arrays can be used for passive localization and tracking of sound sources while analyzing beamforming or spatial filtering of the emitted sound. Studying free roaming animals usually requires setting up equipment over large areas and attaching a tracking device to the animal which may alter their behavior. However, monitoring vocalizing animals through arrays of microphones, spatially distributed over their habitat has the advantage that unrestricted/unmanipulated animals can be observed. Important insights have been achieved through the use of microphone arrays, such as the convergent acoustic field of view in echolocating bats or context-dependent functions of avian duets. Here we show the development and application of large flexible microphone arrays that can be used to localize and track any vocalizing animal and study their bio-acoustic behavior. In a first experiment with hunting pallid bats the acoustic data acquired from a dense array with 64 microphones revealed details of the bats’ echolocation beam in previously unseen resolution. We also demonstrate the flexibility of the proposed microphone array system in a second experiment, where we used a different array architecture allowing to simultaneously localize several species of vocalizing songbirds in a radius of 75 m. Our technology makes it possible to do longer measurement campaigns over larger areas studying changing habitats and providing new insights for habitat conservation. The flexible nature of the technology also makes it possible to create dense microphone arrays that can enhance our understanding in various fields of bioacoustics and can help to tackle the analytics of complex behaviors of vocalizing animals. Verreycken and colleagues present a methods paper detailing construction of large, scalable microphone arrays for bio-acoustic monitoring of animal species. They demonstrate the efficacy of their method in detailing bat hunting echolocation beams with a 64-microphone array, and localizing songbirds across a larger habitat.

SUBMITTER: Verreycken E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8581004 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:The single-tone sound source localization (SSL) by majority of fly Ormia ochracea's ears-inspired directional microphones leaves a limited choice when an application like hearing aid (HA) demands broadband SSL. Here, a piezoelectric MEMS directional microphone using a modified mechanical model of fly's ear has been presented with primary focus to achieve SSL in most sensitive audio bands to mitigate the constraints of traditional SSL works. In the modified model, two optimized rectangular diaphragms have been pivoted by four optimized torsional beams; while the backside of the whole structure has been etched. As a result, the SSL relative to angular rotation of the incoming sound depicts the cosine dependency as an ideal pressure-gradient sensor. At the same time, the mechanical coupling leads the magnitude difference between two diaphragms which has been accounted as SSL in frequency domain. The idea behind this work has been analytical simulated first, and with the convincing mechanical results, the designed bio-inspired directional microphone (BDM) has been fabricated using commercially available MEMSCAP based on PiezoMUMPS processes. In an anechoic chamber, the fabricated device has been excited in free-field sound, and the SSL at 1 kHz frequency, rocking frequency, bending frequency, and in-between rocking and bending frequencies has been found in full compliance with the given angle of incidence of sound. With the measured inter-aural sensitivity difference (mISD) and directionality, the developed BDM has been demonstrated as a practical SSL device, and the results have been found in a perfect match with the given angle of incidence of sound. Furthermore, to facilitate the SSL in noisy environment, the noise has been optimized in all scopes, like the geometry of the diaphragm, supportive torsional beam, and sensing. As a result, the A-weighted noise of this work has been found less than 23 dBA across the audio bands, and the equivalent-input noise (EIN) has been found to be 25.52 dB SPL at 1 kHz frequency which are the lowest ever reported by a similar device. With the developed SSL in broadband-in addition to the lowest noise-the developed device can be extended in some audio applications like an HA device.

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Bio-acoustic tracking and localization using heterogeneous, scalable microphone arrays

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