Marine animal SOUND database

Abstract

The Marine Animal SOUND Database system encompasses (1) descriptive text databases cataoging the WHOI collection of underwater sound recordings from marine animal, (2) sets of files of digital sound sequences, (3) text database organizing the digital sound sequences, and (4) software for analysis, display, playback, and export of selected sound files. The text databases index and sort the information on the sounds. The digital sound files are accessed directly from the text record, analyzed on screen, listened to, and compared or exported as desired. These databases provide comprehensive means for quantitative analyses and statistical comparisons of marine animal vocalizations. The objective has been to develop basic tools for the study of marine animal sounds. The text database for cataloging the collection of recordings provides convenient sorting and selection of sounds of interest. Then, as specific sequences are digitized from these recordigs, they become part of a second database system that manages these sound data. Once a digital sound is part of the database, several tools are available for interactive spectrogram display, sound playback, statistical feature extraction, and export to other application programs.