Hydrophone array processing of biological transient sounds in an acoustically complex environment

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2019-10, Vol.146 (4), p.2883-2883
• Main Authors: Freeman, Simon E., Freeman, Lauren, Bautista, Radienxe, Caspers, Philip, Harker, Blaine M., Johnson, Alexis, Toole, Chris
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0001-4966; 1520-8524
• DOI: 10.1121/1.5137002

Biological transients from invertebrates and fishes dominate the coral reef sound field, an acoustically and biologically complex ecosystem that is challenging to monitor effectively. Three geometries of a reconfigurable mid-frequency hydrophone array were used to quantify the reef biological sound field and investigate bioacoustic changes associated with organism interactions and environmental variables stemming from soniferous reef organism activity. In the three cases, array geometry was optimized to maximize resolution in the horizontal, provide equal vertical and horizontal aperture, and to provide optimal two-dimensional resolution without spatial ambiguity over the reef surface. Reconstructed time-series from beamformer outputs were processed through a number of techniques. Simultaneous underwater video from static cameras enabled validation of reef activity during daylight hours.