Research Hub
Structured metadata connecting research papers, preprints, datasets, organizations, and scholarly resources in computational bioacoustics and animal communication.
Peer-Reviewed Papers & Literature
Cataloged literature with verifiable DOIs, abstracts, and publisher records.
Contextual and combinatorial structure in sperm whale vocalisations
Detailed acoustic analysis of sperm whale click codas uncovering phonetic-like variation, rubato tempo dynamics, and combinatorial structuring.
AVES: Animal Vocalization Encoder Based on Self-Supervision
Peer-reviewed conference paper by Masato Hagiwara introducing AVES, a self-supervised HuBERT-derived transformer pre-trained on diverse animal bioacoustic audio datasets, outperforming general audio encoders on downstream bioacoustic classification tasks.
SoundStream: An End-to-End Neural Audio Codec
Peer-reviewed paper introducing SoundStream, an end-to-end neural audio codec utilizing convolutional encoders, residual vector quantization (RVQ), and adversarial discriminators to efficiently discretize acoustic signals into multi-rate token sequences.
BirdNET: A deep learning solution for avian diversity monitoring
Seminal evaluation of the BirdNET neural network architecture by Stefan Kahl, Connor M. Wood, Maximilian Eibl, and Holger Klinck, demonstrating automated recognition across 984 North American and European bird species using convolutional networks over audio spectrograms.
Individual, unit and vocal clan level identity cues in sperm whale codas
Longitudinal analysis by Shane Gero, Hal Whitehead, and Luke Rendell of wild sperm whales in the Eastern Caribbean revealing hierarchical acoustic cues in codas that simultaneously broadcast individual, family unit, and clan membership.
Bottlenose dolphins can use learned vocal labels to address each other
Landmark study by Stephanie L. King and Vincent M. Janik in PNAS providing experimental playback evidence that wild bottlenose dolphins copy the signature whistles of specific social companions to address them individually.
Estimating animal population density using passive acoustics
Comprehensive statistical framework by Tiago A. Marques, Len Thomas, and colleagues reviewing mathematical methods for estimating cetacean and terrestrial animal population density from passive acoustic detection rates.
Dynamic Horizontal Cultural Transmission of Humpback Whale Song at the Ocean Basin Scale
Study by Ellen C. Garland, Michael J. Noad, and colleagues demonstrating basin-scale horizontal cultural transmission of humpback songs moving eastward across the South Pacific ocean basin.
Facts about signature whistles of bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus
Comprehensive empirical evaluation of signature whistle production by Laela S. Sayigh, Vincent M. Janik, and colleagues examining over 100 individuals in Sarasota Bay, addressing methodological criticisms and confirming whistle stereotypy.
An Overview of Fixed Passive Acoustic Observation Methods for Cetaceans
Review by David K. Mellinger, Kathleen M. Stafford, and colleagues detailing methods, instrument designs, hydrophone hardware, and signal processing workflows for autonomous passive acoustic observation of cetaceans.
Signature whistle shape conveys identity information to bottlenose dolphins
Groundbreaking experimental playback study by Vincent M. Janik, Laela S. Sayigh, and Randall S. Wells demonstrating that synthetic frequency modulation contour shapes alone, stripped of voice timbre and individual harmonics, convey identity information to bottlenose dolphins.
The broadband social acoustic signaling behavior of spinner and spotted dolphins
Empirical study by Marc O. Lammers, Whitlow W. L. Au, and Denise L. Herzing establishing that dolphin whistles and burst pulses contain significant harmonic energy extending well beyond 50–100 kHz into ultrasonic bands.
Vocal clans in sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus)
Seminal study by Luke Rendell and Hal Whitehead demonstrating sympatric vocal clans in South Pacific sperm whales defined by distinct coda repertoires transmitted culturally.
Source levels and the estimated active space of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) whistles in the Moray Firth, Scotland
Acoustic measurement of calibrated source levels for wild dolphin whistles (averaging 158 dB re 1 uPa) and mathematical modeling of active transmission space and communication ranges in shallow coastal waters.
Whistle matching in wild bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)
Field research published in Science by Vincent M. Janik demonstrating vocal matching and whistle exchange interactions among wild coastal bottlenose dolphins occurring within seconds.
Context-specific use suggests that bottlenose dolphin signature whistles are cohesion calls
Investigation by Vincent M. Janik and Peter J. B. Slater showing that signature whistles function primarily as contact and cohesion calls when animals are separated from their group in wild and captive environments.
Signature whistles of free-ranging bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus): stability and mother-offspring comparisons
Longitudinal field study in Sarasota Bay, Florida, demonstrating that individually distinctive signature whistles can remain stable for at least 12 years, with mother-offspring comparisons showing female calves produce whistles distinct from their mothers while male calves produce whistles more similar to their mothers.
Whistle repertoires of two bottlenosed dolphins, Tursiops truncatus: mimicry of signature whistles?
Seminal investigation by Peter L. Tyack showing that bottlenose dolphins can mimic the signature whistles of conspecifics in their social group, providing early empirical evidence of vocal production learning in cetaceans.
Sperm whale codas
First description and definition of sperm whale codas by William A. Watkins and William E. Schevill, introducing the concept of stereotyped multi-click sequences used for social interactions underwater.
Speed of sound in water: A simple equation for realistic parameters
Standard empirical formula formulated by Herman Medwin for calculating the speed of sound in seawater as a function of temperature, salinity, and depth, fundamental to underwater acoustic modeling and hydrophone localization.
Songs of Humpback Whales
Historic discovery published in Science by Roger S. Payne and Scott McVay establishing that humpback whale vocalizations are structured, hierarchical, repeatable songs composed of distinct themes and phrases.
Individualized Whistle Contours in Bottle-nosed Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)
Foundational empirical study by Melba C. Caldwell and David K. Caldwell demonstrating that individual bottlenose dolphins produce stereotypic, individualized frequency-modulated whistle contours that serve as individual acoustic identifiers.
Bioacoustic Datasets & Audio Corpora
Curated hydrophone recordings, annotated whistles, and acoustic benchmarks.
Watkins Marine Mammal Sound Database
Long-running curated biological acoustic sound repository comprising over 15,000 cuts across more than 60 species of marine mammals collected between the 1940s and 2000s. Terms: Personal, academic, and research use permitted; commercial use prohibited. Attribution required (WHOI). | Access: Open web archive (DSpace repository) | Download: Direct MP3/WAV cuts | Restrictions: Non-commercial only.
Orcasound Hydrophone Network Audio Archive
Live open hydrophone network and longitudinal acoustic data archive deployed in the Salish Sea to monitor endangered Southern Resident killer whales and ocean noise. Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) | Access: Open AWS Public Dataset (S3) and streaming API | Download: Direct FLAC/WAV download via S3 bucket and HLS streams | Restrictions: Non-commercial use and attribution required under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
SanctSound National Marine Sanctuary Soundscape Data
Comprehensive underwater passive acoustic monitoring project measuring soundscapes across seven national marine sanctuaries and one marine national monument. Terms: Public Domain (US Government Work) / NOAA Data Policy | Access: Open access via NOAA NCEI archive and SanctSound IOOS data portal | Download: Direct NetCDF, audio cuts, and soundscape metrics via NOAA NCEI and IOOS portal | Restrictions: None (public domain, citation requested).
DCLDE Marine Mammal Detection and Classification Dataset
Curated multi-species marine mammal benchmark dataset recorded from bottom-moored hydrophones and towed arrays for bioacoustic classification competitions. Terms: Open scientific workshop data access | Access: Web portal registration | Download: Direct archive cuts by competition track | Restrictions: Academic and research evaluation use.
Orchive Killer Whale Acoustic Database
Massive bioacoustic archive comprising over 20,000 hours of continuous underwater acoustic monitoring recordings of northern resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) collected via hydrophones in Johnstone Strait, British Columbia by OrcaLab. Terms: Academic research access by agreement | Access: Published archival research specification (Ness et al., arXiv:1307.0589); original UVic web interface decommissioned | Download: Archival acoustic feature extracts and research cuts | Restrictions: Non-commercial research only.
Ocean Observatories Initiative Hydrophone Data
Continuous broadband and low-frequency hydrophone recordings collected across ocean basins by seafloor-cabled and moored acoustic sensors funded by NSF. Terms: Open Access under NSF OOI Data Policy (CC BY 4.0 equivalent) | Access: OOI Data Portal and raw data cloud storage | Download: Raw mseed/audio files via HTTP and OOI API | Restrictions: Open scientific use with attribution.
Xeno-canto Wildlife Sound Archive
Citizen-science and researcher sound archive containing over 800,000 biological audio recordings spanning birds, mammals, anurans, and insects globally. Terms: Individual Creative Commons licenses per recording (CC BY, CC BY-NC, CC BY-SA, CC0) | Access: Open web portal and REST API | Download: Direct MP3 download and API batch access | Restrictions: License terms vary per recording; non-commercial restrictions apply to select recordings.
Macaulay Library Wildlife Media Archive
One of the worlds premier scientific archives of animal sounds and behavior, preserving hundreds of thousands of audio recordings across birds, marine mammals, and terrestrial vertebrates. Terms: Non-commercial educational and research use; commercial licensing requires formal agreement | Access: Web interface and research request portal | Download: Web streaming; research downloads require approved data request | Restrictions: Commercial use and bulk redistributed mirroring prohibited without explicit license.
Tierstimmenarchiv (Animal Sound Archive Berlin)
Extensive historical animal sound repository housing over 120,000 bioacoustic recordings representing approximately 1,800 bird species and hundreds of mammal, amphibian, and fish species. Terms: Scientific and educational use; individual agreements for digital redistribution | Access: Web portal and on-request research repository | Download: Streaming preview and high-resolution files on scientific request | Restrictions: Commercial exploitation prohibited without museum permission.
AudioSet: An Ontology and Human-Labeled Dataset for Audio Events
Benchmark dataset of over 2 million 10-second audio segments drawn from YouTube videos labeled across an ontology of 527 audio event classes, including animal vocalizations and environmental sounds. Terms: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) for dataset metadata and extracted features | Access: Open web download | Download: Direct CSV annotations and 128-dimensional VGGish feature embeddings | Restrictions: YouTube terms of service apply to raw source audio video IDs.
ESC-50: Dataset for Environmental Sound Classification
Standard labeled collection of 2,000 environmental audio recordings (5-second duration) organized into 50 balanced semantic classes, including domestic animals and wildlife sounds. Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 (CC BY-NC 3.0) | Access: Open GitHub repository and direct web download | Download: Direct repository zip file containing unified 44.1 kHz WAV clips | Restrictions: Non-commercial use only under CC BY-NC 3.0.
Research Institutions & Labs
Academic institutions, non-profit foundations, and corporate AI labs.
Carleton University
Canadian research institution collaborating with Project CETI and the Dominica Sperm Whale Project on cetacean bioacoustics and animal communication.
Chemnitz University of Technology
German research university whose Media Informatics and Artificial Intelligence groups co-developed the BirdNET platform for automated bioacoustic classification.
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Renowned institution for avian and wildlife acoustic ecology, housing the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics and co-developing BirdNET.
Dalhousie University
Major Canadian oceanographic research university whose Department of Biology conducts longitudinal studies on sperm whale acoustic clans and cultural transmission.
Earth Species Project
Non-profit dedicated to using AI to decode non-human communication.
Georgia Institute of Technology
Leading technological research university whose School of Interactive Computing conducts research in wearable mobile computing and bioacoustics, collaborating on the DolphinGemma initiative and the historical CHAT field project.
Google DeepMind
Artificial intelligence research laboratory whose published work includes the SoundStream neural audio codec and bioacoustic foundation models.
Oregon State University
Leading oceanographic research institution operating bioacoustic laboratories in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences in partnership with NOAA PMEL.
Project CETI
Cetacean Translation Initiative applying AI and marine biology to sperm whale communication.
University of St Andrews
Scottish research university renowned for marine mammal bioacoustics through the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) and the Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Adaptation.
Wild Dolphin Project
Long-term scientific research organization studying Atlantic spotted dolphins in the Bahamas.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)
Independent non-profit oceanographic research facility operating marine bioacoustic monitoring programs and sound archives.
Documented Researchers
Marine biologists and bioacoustic researchers with cataloged contributions.
Connor M. Wood
Research ecologist at the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, co-author of the 2021 BirdNET study.
Dr. David K. Mellinger
Associate Professor Senior Research at Oregon State University and NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, pioneer in autonomous passive acoustic monitoring methods for cetaceans.
Dr. Denise Herzing
Research Director and Founder of the Wild Dolphin Project, leading long-term continuous underwater field research on wild Atlantic spotted dolphins in the Bahamas since 1985.
Dr. Hal Whitehead
University Research Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biology at Dalhousie University, pioneering researcher in cetacean social structure, sperm whale culture, and vocal clans.
Dr. Laela S. Sayigh
Senior Scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and research professor studying cetacean bioacoustics, signature whistle ontogeny, and marine animal sound communication.
Dr. Luke Rendell
Reader in Biology at the Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St Andrews, investigating cetacean acoustic culture, vocal dialects, and social learning.
Dr. Marc O. Lammers
Research Coordinator at the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, expert in marine acoustic ecology and broadband dolphin signaling behavior.
Dr. Masato Hagiwara
Senior Research Scientist at Earth Species Project and bioacoustic machine learning researcher, creator and lead author of the AVES foundation model.
Dr. Michael D. Scott
Marine vertebrate biologist, co-founder of the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, and senior scientist with the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission.
Dr. Peter L. Tyack
Senior scientist emeritus at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and professor at the University of St Andrews, known for pioneering research into cetacean vocal learning and signature whistles.
Dr. Randall S. Wells
Director of the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program and Senior Conservation Scientist at the Chicago Zoological Society, conducting longitudinal research on wild bottlenose dolphins since 1970.
Dr. Roger S. Payne
Renowned biologist and conservationist (1935–2023) who co-discovered humpback whale songs in 1967 with Scott McVay and founded Ocean Alliance.
Dr. Shane Gero
Biology professor at Carleton University, Biology Lead at Project CETI, and founder of the Dominica Sperm Whale Project, specializing in sperm whale vocal clans and social behavior.
Dr. Stefan Kahl
Bioacoustics researcher and machine learning scientist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics) and Chemnitz University of Technology, lead author of the 2021 BirdNET study.
Dr. Stephanie L. King
Associate Professor in Animal Behaviour at the University of Bristol, studying dolphin vocal communication, individual vocal labels, and alliance coordination.
Dr. Thad Starner
Professor in the School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology and wearable computing researcher, long-time collaborator with the Wild Dolphin Project on underwater acoustic research systems.
Dr. Vincent M. Janik
Professor of Biology and Director of the Scottish Oceans Institute at the University of St Andrews, world expert in marine mammal vocal learning, signature whistle perception, and communication systems.
Holger Klinck
Director of the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, co-author of the 2021 BirdNET study.
Maximilian Eibl
Professor of Media Informatics at Chemnitz University of Technology, co-author of the 2021 BirdNET study.
Melba C. Caldwell
Pioneering cetacean researcher (1924–2010) at Marineland of Florida and University of Florida who, with David K. Caldwell, discovered and established signature whistles in bottlenose dolphins.
Neil Zeghidour
AI researcher and research director at Kyutai (formerly Google DeepMind), lead author of the SoundStream neural audio codec architecture.
William A. Watkins
Pioneering oceanographer and bioacoustician (1926–2004) at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who established marine bioacoustics and compiled the Watkins Sound Database.