Preliminary Acoustic Analysis of Farm Management Noise and Its Impact on Broiler Welfare

Farm management practices done by machinery generate a high acoustical impact on animals. The acoustic variations in terms of equivalent level (Leq) and the different types of noise can affect the well-being of broilers by means of reducing the food and water ingest. In this work, we create a dataset in which we conduct a preliminary analysis of the acoustical impact generated by the farm management in a intensive broiler poultry farm of 25,000 birds. The project collects acoustic data during the first two weeks of the birds life, focusing the study on the first week. To create the dataset we randomly select some files from each day of the study and they are analysed and labelled manually using an audio analysis software. The acoustical events defined in collaboration with the farmer and vet are fan, food and water supply, based on duration, impact and Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR). The analysis concludes that the main acoustical source in a broilers’ farm is fan, and that it has an non negligible acoustical impact. Nevertheless, the most frequent acoustical noise source active is food supply, but with less Leq impact.