Acoustic sensors enable efficient and non-invasive monitoring of a wide range of species, including many that are difficult to monitor in other ways. Although they were initially limited in application scope largely due to cost and hardware constraints, the development of low-cost, open-source models like the Audiomoth in recent years has increased access immensely and opened up new avenues of research. For example, some teams are using them to identify illicit human activities through the detection of associated sounds, like gunshots, vehicles, or chainsaws (e.g. OpenEars).
With this relatively novel dimension of wildlife monitoring rapidly advancing in both marine and terrestrial systems, it is crucial that we identify and share information about the utility and constraints of these sensors to inform efforts. A recent study identified advancements in hardware and machine learning applications, as well as early development of acoustic biodiversity indicators, as factors facilitating progress in the field. In terms of limitations, the authors highlight insufficient reference sound libraries, a lack of open-source audio processing tools, and a need for standardization of survey and analysis protocols. They also stress the importance of collaboration in moving forward, which is precisely what this group will aim to facilitate.
If you're new to acoustic monitoring and want to get up to speed on the basics, check out these beginner's resources and conversations from across the WILDLABS platform:
Three Resources for Beginners:
- Listening to Nature: The Emerging Field of Bioacoustics, Adam Welz
- Ecoacoustics and Biodiversity Monitoring, RSEC Journal
- Monitoring Ecosystems through Sound: The Present and Future of Passive Acoustics, Ella Browning and Rory Gibb
Three Forum Threads for Beginners:
- AudioMoth user guide | Tessa Rhinehart
- Audiomoth and Natterjack Monitoring (UK) | Stuart Newson
- Help with analysing bat recordings from Audiomoth | Carlos Abrahams
Three Tutorials for Beginners:
- "How do I perform automated recordings of bird assemblages?" | Carlos Abrahams, Tech Tutors
- "How do I scale up acoustic surveys with Audiomoths and automated processing?" | Tessa Rhinehart, Tech Tutors
- Acoustic Monitoring | David Watson, Ruby Lee, Andy Hill, and Dimitri Ponirakis, Virtual Meetups
Want to know more about acoustic monitoring and learn from experts in the WILDLABS community? Jump into the discussion in our Acoustic Monitoring group!
Header image: Carly Batist
A wildlife scientist, focusing mainly in primates conservation & research, Community-based conservation and ecosystems management.
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Andigena ID+ es una empresa Colombiana dedicada a promover la conservación de la biodiversidad de manera integral a través de la investigación y el desarrollo.
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University of Suffolk
Researcher on the 8 Primates Project
PhD student- biodiversity monitoring using acoustic data


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Ocean Science Analytics
Marine mammal ecologist and online technical trainer



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Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Saskatchewan investigating biodiversity change in agriculture, primarily using bioacoustics.
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- @cbnatphoto
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Clay Bolt is the Manager of Pollinator Conservation for World Wildlife Fund-US and a conservation photographer focused on supporting policy that protects insects from pesticides and other threats. Clay’s words and images have appeared in publications such as National Geographic M
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Natural Solutions

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KONKLUSI (Kolaborasi Inklusi Konservasi - Yayasan)
Your friendly Indo-Crocky-Croc



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- @KeesteVelde
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Underwater Bioacoustician interested in developing PAM for freshwater systems

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- @MStarking
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Ecologist and conservation researcher, currently an Assistant Professor at University of Michigan-Flint, research areas include landscape ecology, forestry and wildlife interactions, wildlife habitat relationships, spatial ecology, GIS.

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Tech for Conservation

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sustainability strategist, naturalist, consultant
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Careers
Island Conservation's Innovation Team is dedicated to developing innovative, data-driven tools to increase the scale, scope, and pace of island restorations around the world. As the Conservation Innovation Manager, you...
27 September 2023
If only there was a place where these users, manufacturers, and supporters of conservation technology could connect with one another. There is. It is called WILDLABS.
22 September 2023
The new white paper from Rainforest Connection (RFCx) explores the power of ecoacoustics and AI to monitor biodiversity and track progress towards GBF targets using case studies from around the world.
20 September 2023
Article
Five #tech4wildlife people, projects and updates that caught our attention this month. An AI supported bear early warning system, a project that's connecting indigenous communities with high speed internet, exploring...
12 September 2023
It's relatively easy to collect vast amounts of audio data - it's not so easy to analyse it and get consistent results. The Wilder Sensing platform enables users to upload vast quantities of audio which is then analysed...
1 September 2023
News about a population survey of California Spotted Owls using 1,600 autonomous recording units in the Sierra Nevada region. Machine learning made analyzing this acoustic data possible at this large scale for the first...
29 August 2023
The Smithsonian Institution seeks a field- and data-oriented biologist to support marine animal telemetry research and to assist with activities of the Atlantic Cooperative Telemetry (ACT) Network.
24 August 2023
Apply to work on a wonderful team translating acoustic monitoring data into conservation & ecological insights!
11 August 2023
This article discusses Cornell's bioacoustics work with AI tools to recognize both elephant "voices" as well as gunshots. The elephant rumbles analyzed in this work are almost imperceptible to the human ear, but can be...
9 August 2023
Please join us in celebrating this year’s top #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge Honorees as chosen by our panel of leading conservation organization judges, and enjoy the story contained within these entries about how our...
4 August 2023
Exciting opportunity for an experienced biodiversity monitoring expert in ZSL's conservation department
18 July 2023
Global methane data and new functionaity on the Carbon Mapper Data Portal
12 July 2023
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61 Products
Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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Hi Shawn, I've only heard good things about LiFePO4. The only issue I can think of is exactly the one you bring up: the EMF is low enough that a 2S battery is needed... |
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Acoustics | 5 years 8 months ago | |
So far we have been able to disambiguate between the flocks of two different species of small birds? Not easy. Our problem seems to be based around the fact that... |
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Acoustics | 5 years 9 months ago | |
Hi Sam, have you tried the Clippy EM172 ? I was looking at this microphone on Raspberry Pi + PiSound, but it has an electret capsule and should then be powered... Thank you... |
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Acoustics | 5 years 9 months ago | |
Hi Kev, thank you for contacting us. We are a non-profit, too. I very much welcome collabortion on this system. Shall we continue our discussion through email? Mine is jankees.... |
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Acoustics | 5 years 10 months ago | |
Hi all, In order to help the development of bioacoustics methods in the UK, I've recently produced some draft guidance, focussed on... |
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Acoustics | 6 years 1 month ago | |
Hi. I'm moving a topic to this thread from the camera trap thread since it's more relevant here. Discussion with Alasdair... |
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Acoustics | 6 years 2 months ago | |
Hi Tessa. Thanks and also thanks for being so generous with your work :) Regarding the format, how do you all think if we have a single document and a wiki? I could... |
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Acoustics | 6 years 2 months ago | |
Joachim and Carlos, Thank you both very much for all your help so far with this problem, all of your input is very constructive. I have had look into the CCTV tech and also... |
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Acoustics | 6 years 2 months ago | |
What frequecy are you looking to record, how long does the mic need to run for, what is the distance between the microphone and the "listening" site? As... |
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Acoustics | 6 years 2 months ago | |
How about using Kaleidoscope and the cluster analysis tool? Works fine, and is super-quick.. Ta, Carlos |
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Acoustics | 6 years 3 months ago | |
I'll be there - on the Wildlife Acoustics stand... Please come and say hi! Carlos |
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Acoustics | 6 years 3 months ago | |
Update The current AudioMoth group purchase reached our stock level of 1550 devices, hence the campaign has closed early. We'll now set up the manufacturing run and update... |
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Acoustics | 6 years 3 months ago |
Auto ID Software for NA Amphibians?
20 July 2024 3:57am
24 July 2024 6:15pm
Retweet on OpenSoundscape - great package and documentation that allows you to build your own CNNs! Note that this is in Python though.
There are tons of bioacoustics software and packages in @tessa_rhinehart 's helpful list too! Some more recent options that I don't think are on that yet are Whombat and gibbonNetR (which uses the 'Torch for R' ecosystem).
Also, Raven has template- and energy-based detectors you could try as well. The monitoR and warbleR packages allow you to do template-based detections too. BirdNET is integrated into Raven now as well.
You can also try Kaleidoscope's native clustering function.
Agree with you that there's definitely not enough resources for frog detection though! I'm assuming the Australian one you found is FrogID? There is also AnuraSet, but this is for neotropical frogs.
High quality field deployable playback devices - acoustic and ultrasonic: do they exist?
29 June 2024 6:34am
16 July 2024 12:16am
Thanks so much Brett! I'll look them up and get in touch with any questions. They look great.
16 July 2024 12:18am
Thanks Akiba. We're interested in investigating sounds that attract predators at close ranges. Mainly from acoustic up to around 100kHz. Perhaps if you sent me your email I can discuss further?
24 July 2024 5:24pm
Hi @BrettMargoSupplies this product seems like a fantastic addition to The Inventory, WILDLABS' wiki-style discovery platform for conservation technology. Adding a product is quite straightforward. Here is a user guide.
Looking for interview participants for research on AI Conservation & the CBD
23 July 2024 1:45pm
Questions for Biologists relating to system requirements in acoustic research
6 July 2024 3:54am
21 July 2024 7:49pm
Hey @jamie_mac
These are FPODs from Chelonia was an exceptional read. I love the implementation and would have a great time developing systems like that. Very clever method for low power detection and would provide an ultra-fast turnaround for recording, where AI would take an entire detection window timescale to start recording. It does also make sense that marine environments would be an exceptionally difficult place for species detection.
I am interested in your idea of an OS marine ARU system. I have been doing a little research on marine acoustics and have a few ideas. This seems right up my alley. If you'd be interested in playing around with the idea and seeing if we can make something that works, I could likely make quick work with this
22 July 2024 8:19am
Hi Morgan.
We are actually at the very early stages of developing a new OS marine PAM device. This is a side project (read no funding currently) but if you're interested, I'd be happy to have a chat about what we are doing?
23 July 2024 2:40am
Yeah that would be great - I have done a little looking into it today and I have some ideas. I'd love to collab. I will DM you
Is this nature imitating humans or the other way around?
10 July 2024 2:15pm
13 July 2024 2:01pm
Hi Mike,
You ask a great question and hopefully an expert on thrush vocalisations will be able to answer you more precisely than I can. However, what I can tell you is that many species of song birds are constantly evolving their calls for a whole range of reasons and while there are innate call characteristics for most species, there is usually a learnt component as well which can be mimicry or simply learning to sing from the available song around them. In Australia (and I believe elsewhere) we have some examples of threatened species with drastically reduced populations that have started to forget their own song because they simply do not have enough adult birds around them from whom to learn the song. They pick up the song of other abundant species which becomes problematic when it comes time for them to breed.
In many urbanised parts of the world, birds have changed their call to find an acoustic window not occupied by anthropogenic noise
So the questions I would start with are:
Do your British blackbirds have a shortage of example calls from their own species which might lead to them changing their call?
Are your blackbirds migrating and breeding somewhere there were a shortage of teachers?
Is there that much Wolf Whistling still going on in Britain?
If blackbirds are doing as well in Britain as they are in their feral range, then I think a lack of available call teachers is unlikely. Other possibilities are that the individual has learnt a modified call because of a change in its acoustic environment, or it has emigrated (blown in) from somewhere that blackbirds have a different call dialect. Perhaps you could scour an online call library like Xeno-Canto to see if you can find a match for your local blackbird.
15 July 2024 11:00am
Many thanks. That is a useful place to start. I don't think there is any shortage of blackbirds in the UK. And they nest in our garden every year. I don't remember the last time I heard a human wolf whistle. I do hear quite a few house and car alarms and I have heard birds mimicking those. I suppose one remote possibility is that blackbirds have been nesting near a house with a tame and audible parrot or Mynah bird. Or that some wag has been constantly wolf whistling to a blackbird nest. I once taught my sister's budgie to quack and it used to do so bobbing its head manically up and down (so I can understand a bored child might do such a thing). When I was a child there was a free yet talking Magpie that seemed to delight in sitting on a garden wall and calling "hello" to the kids as they crossed the road.
Is it an issue to attach AudioMoths to Metal Towers?
15 June 2024 8:22am
19 June 2024 11:13am
There are two reasons I want to mount them on a couple towers (not all will go on towers). (1) It will be easier for our field assistants who are already heavily loaded with tasks to take them down and remount them over the year (replace batteries & microSD cards and reconfigure them b/c they are old firmware) that they are mounted. Plus there are already HOBO loggers mounted to the towers that makes it a quicker job. (2) It is an area of the park that the managers burn yearly in Jan and Feb and I want to have the AudioMoths mounted during the fires because it seems that the lorises stay in the area and I want to record vocalizations at that time.
19 June 2024 11:17am
This is very helpful, thank you! I will source some materials and run a test.
14 July 2024 4:59am
Hi Luke,
As Matthew has suggested, the best way is always to run a test run whenever you are doing something new. Put your recorders out for one or two days and see how they perform.
My only concern about metal structures is that they can make some noises on windy days. I think Matthew's suggestion of using a sound barrier can help, but you may still notice the sound in the recording. However, this may not be a big concern for your project, as I assume the noise from the tower will be in much lower frequency than the lorises.
19th Australasian Vertebrate Pest Conference 2024
12 July 2024 12:42am
Selling used ARU equipment?
9 July 2024 5:15pm
One simple way ships can protect endangered whales and tackle climate change
8 July 2024 7:19pm
Affordable acoustic monitors for "whispering" bats?
30 April 2024 8:31pm
3 May 2024 3:28pm
Hey @ccosma if you are interested in multiple cheap sensors, Phil Atkin and I are making initial batches of pippyG bat detector. They can record 4-7 days at the moment, but could be modified to fit needs.
3 May 2024 9:04pm
I think I've landed on the Wildlife Acoustics Song Meter Mini Bat 2 for now, but I'm definitely interested to see how this cheaper tech progresses
2 July 2024 6:29pm
Hi Chris - I missed this entire dialog, just to say I have successfully recorded all the"quiet" bats using pippyg / pippistrelle, but it inevitably turns into an SNR issue, and anything lower-cose always has worse SNR than more expensive kit. The upside - which is significant - is that you can deploy WAY more sensors per kilodollar spent, which gives you even better coverage than you think because if you deploy 20 and one fails, no big deal. Deploy 3 and one fails, your coverage is hammered. And at just £40 each for the pippyg static detectors from Smith Robotics, you can saturate an area with sensing / recording technology.
Game-changing Bat Detectors to Hit Global Market
2 July 2024 1:18pm
NEW PUBLICATION ALERT!
17 June 2024 11:33am
17 June 2024 12:57pm
17 June 2024 7:40pm
Deep learning & bioacoustics postdoc in Cape Town, South Africa
14 June 2024 1:52pm
Postdoctoral Research Associate: Bioacoustics & population modeling
11 June 2024 9:35pm
Fully funded PhD in AI biodiversity monitoring
11 June 2024 1:07pm
VIHAR-2024 deadline extension, June 30th (Interspeech satellite event)
5 June 2024 10:30am
5 June 2024 3:05pm
Thanks for sharing this @nkundiushuti ! I think this post would be better suited as an event, that way it will show up on the WILDLABS event calendar page. Let me know if you have any questions on how to make an event post! You just click the +Post button in the top right corner, then click "event."
7 June 2024 8:29am
hi Alex!! I already posted the event, I just wanted to posted an update: the deadline was extended.
7 June 2024 1:45pm
Fantastic!!
New WILDLABS Funding & Finance group
5 June 2024 3:24pm
5 June 2024 4:14pm
6 June 2024 1:38am
6 June 2024 4:16am
Apply! 2024 Conservation Tech Award
3 June 2024 3:51pm
Bioacoustics and AI 101
29 May 2024 2:21pm
4th African Bioacoustics Community Conference
29 May 2024 1:50pm
2nd Colombian Congress on Bioacoustics and Ecoacoustics
28 May 2024 9:20pm
XIII Congreso Iberoamericano de Acústica
28 May 2024 9:07pm
9th Workshop On Detection and Classification of Acoustic Scenes and Events
28 May 2024 8:57pm
32nd European Signal Processing Conference
28 May 2024 8:44pm
5th World Ecoacoustics Congress
28 May 2024 8:07pm
Mounting Electret Microphone
20 May 2024 6:20pm
24 May 2024 6:03pm
If you search Digikey for a 'strain relief' you should be able to find a rubber grommet that will hold that mic without any additional machining. A blob of silicone will adhesive and waterproof, I always like stuff to do at least two things. It's also vibration reducing on the mic. You may want to either 'shotgun' mic by putting it at the end of a tube, that will block a lot of ambient also. Unless it whistles like a bottle in the wind, that might be a problem later lol. Or use a dish as a focus.
Uploading External Recordings for Templates?
23 May 2024 4:52pm
23 May 2024 9:15pm
Hi Cortney!
I'm Carly, the Science Outreach Lead at Arbimon :)
I wanted to just point out that we have support docs and help pages at help.arbimon.org and also a link to contact us directly for help!
Regarding the error you're getting with the upload, it's probably easiest to switch over to email so I can get more information on the project and look into it on the backend. I would also recommend using the Uploader App rather than the web uploader, if you're not already.
But your idea is correct, we have many users who import renamed Xeno-Canto files to Arbimon to use as templates!
What's your email? We can continue the convo to get you set up!
23 May 2024 10:27pm
Thanks Carly! I had reviewed some of the help files, but clearly not the right ones!
My email is deanc5697@my.uwstout.edu
24 July 2024 5:12pm
Hi Cortney,
I recommend exploring the tools developed by Kitzes Lab, such as OpenSoundscape, which can be used for the automatic detection of anurans. Here's a reference paper that might be useful. You might also consider reaching out directly to Justin Kitzes @jkitzes for more specialized advice.
Also here is a another paper that use BirdNet to automatically detect the bullfrog presence.
Best of luck with your analyses!