DeepAcoustics Enhances Underwater Bioacoustics Analysis
Utilizing our new artificial intelligence innovation, DeepAcoustics, we are on the forefront of marine mammal communication technology.
How DeepAcoustics is revolutionizing bioacoustics analysis
DeepAcoustics transforms marine mammal research with our groundbreaking MATLAB-based software. Evolved from DeepSqueak technology, we've engineered a powerful solution specifically optimized for underwater acoustics analysis. Our advanced machine learning algorithms detect dolphin whistles with unprecedented accuracy in noisy ocean environments, automatically extracting and categorizing whistle contours. This breakthrough enables researchers to dramatically improve both speed and precision in signal detection across diverse marine soundscapes. Experience the future of bioacoustics analysis with our open-access solution.
Dolphin Whistle Detection and Vocalization Display
Project details and research
Origination: Exploring Dolphin Intelligence
What began as a quest for two-way acoustic communication between dolphins and humans has led to DeepAcoustics, an AI software model that detects a broad range of marine mammal call types in noisier, underwater environments. DeepAcoustics is built upon DeepSqueak, with modifications developed at Ocean Science Analytics.
In DeepAcoustics, bioacousticians and other researchers now have a research tool that allows detection of a broad range of call types, targeting calls produced by select species. In addition, DeepAcoustics can characterize tonal whistles by automatically extracting whistle contours from recordings. Contours are sorted by shape into an optimal number of whistle clusters yielding a set of discrete whistle types that characterize the repertoire produced by a group of animals.
Peter presents his latest dolphin whistle technology: DeepAcoustics, at the 2022 Society for Marine Mammalogy Conference poster session.
Authors
Peter Sugarman
Kevin R. Coffey, Ph.D.
Elizabeth Ferguson
Jennifer Pettis Schallert
Gabriela Alongi
Heidi Lyn, Ph.D.
Research team
Liz Ferguson and Peter Sugarman are longtime collaborators in the field of underwater bioacoustics and marine mammal whistle detection and classification.
Peter Sugarman
Founder and Independent Researcher, Acoustic Interactions
For more than 50 years, Peter has pursued a deep passion to establish two-way communication with dolphins. This has included many years of dolphin research, study, and technology development, and many hours spent with dolphins. In this collaborative project informed by multiple disciplines, He is joined by a team of equally passionate colleagues, friends, and social innovators from my wide array of lifelong connections.
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Peter brings a unique set of skills to achieve this: experience in marine behavioral ecology and animal behavior; computer science, artificial intelligence and software development; experimental cognitive psychology; integral ecology, and underwater acoustics.
My early career experience includes training in underwater acoustics as a sonar technician with the US Navy (1971). In 1980, I worked with the Human/Dolphin Foundation at Marine World/Africa USA in Redwood City, CA on the JANUS project in their attempt to communicate with two captive adolescent dolphins. In the mid 80’s, I produced a field guide to the Orca Whales of Puget Sound, working with the Whale Museum, Friday Harbor, WA.
In the early 90s I led several test teams through successful software application development projects at Microsoft. While I retired from Microsoft in 1998 to continue pursuing my passion for dolphin communication research, my expertise in developing and testing processes remains a foundational skill enabling me to develop and direct the creation of a two-way acoustic protocol for talking with dolphins. After my time at Microsoft, I was the first research coordinator at the Dolphin Research Center in the Florida Keys (2000), working on marine mammal research.
My education includes three master’s degrees: in marine behavioral ecology, from Florida State University, (1977); computer science, from Western Washington University, (1988), and in experimental cognitive psychology, from the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) in 2010. At USM I designed a project to assess a dolphin’s acoustic discrimination and cognitive abilities, working with two adult dolphins at Dolphin Encounters in Nassau, Bahamas. Though highly trained to follow human directions, the 30-year-old dolphins (near the end of an average dolphin’s lifespan) were past their critical period of learning plasticity and failed to learn the new discrimination task. From this I determined that working with young dolphins in the wild may hold the key for establishing a two-way inter-species communication link.
Liz Ferguson
Founder and CEO, Ocean Science Analytics
LIz Ferguson, Founder and CEO of Ocean Science Analytics (OSA) is currently working on the development of methods for real-time dolphin whistle detection and display. This project, the “Dolphin Whistle Detection and Vocalization Display,” is being led by Dr. Heidi Lyn, University of South Alabama, and Peter Sugarman. It aims to better understand the whistle repertoire of a group of dolphins located at the Ocean Adventures facility in Gulfport, Mississippi. OSA’s role in this project relates to the software components used in detecting and displaying whistles.
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For the “Dolphin Whistle Detection and Vocalization Display” project, Liz is using DeepAcoustics, an open-access MATLAB-based software program designed to develop and deploy deep learning networks for bio-acoustic data. This tool, touting an intuitive graphical user interface, was modified from the tool DeepSqueak, which was originally developed to detect and classify ultrasonic vocalizations from rodents in a low noise, laboratory setting. DeepAcoustics is used to create and evaluate deep neural networks for whistle detection in a variety of underwater environments. The native classification features of DeepAcoustics are used to categorize detected whistles.
Liz is a Marine Ecologist and Educator with 20 years of experience in the education and research communities of San Diego. Throughout much of her career, she has specialized in marine mammal bioacoustic research, with expertise in passive acoustic monitoring, deep learning methods for call detection, and development of analytical software. More recently, she has focused on studying natural and anthropogenic physical-biological impacts on marine megafauna population dynamics using tools such as ArcGIS/QGIS and R. Liz is adept at combining her technical expertise with effective communication of complex topics through outreach and educational materials.
Prior to founding OSA, Liz worked at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (NOAA Fisheries) as a passive and active acoustic technician. In this role, she gained extensive field experience in the Gulf of Mexico, the Eastern Tropical Pacific, and the Pacific Northwest regions. Liz later worked for Bio-Waves Inc., as their Chief Operating Officer (COO), with additional responsibilities in data analytics and project management.
Liz is a graduate of the University of San Diego with a B.A. in Marine Science, and Point Loma Nazarene University with an M.S. in Biology. Liz also possesses a Specialist Certificate in GIS. She is currently an adjunct faculty member in the Biology Departments at Miramar College, California State University San Marcos, and the University of San Diego. She also serves as the Executive Director of Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) of San Diego, a non-profit supporting young women in their pursuit of STEM careers.
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