Glossary

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A

acoustic allometry

The principle of acoustic allometry—the larger the animal, the lower its calls’ fundamental frequency—is generally observed across terrestrial mammals. [1]

References

  1. Riondato I, Gamba M, Tan CL, et al. Allometric escape and acoustic signal features facilitate high-frequency communication in an endemic Chinese primate. 2021. Available at: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00359-021-01465-7.
acoustic anthropocene

"The impact of people on natural soundscapes must have grown gradually with the human population growth on earth and the use of stones and metal for construction and tool making in the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages. High-intensity anthropogenic sound events may have emerged with the invention of gunpowder in China, in the 9th century, used for mining, warfare and demolition. However, the invention of the steam engine, and the industrial revolution in general, by the end of the 18th century, can be regarded as the real start of steady growth of industrial and traffic noise in the western world. The automotive industry rose in the USA by the end of the 19th century and a considerable acceleration in car production happened soon after World War II, in which period commercial aviation also started to grow rapidly. Growth in noise pollution levels in the oceans roughly coincided with that in air, and was primarily related to the cold war increase of sonar use and the steady incline in global shipping activity associated with international trade. Seismic exploration for geophysical surveys started about 90 years ago, while pile driving for wind turbines at sea in coastal areas is a recent growth sector of the last decade." [1]

References

  1. Slabbekoorn H. Noise pollution. 2019. Available at: https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0960982219308632.

See also: anthropogenic noiseanthropophony

acoustic aposematism

"The use of an acoustic signal by the prey to warn predators of their unpalability." [1]

References

  1. Jacobs DSteve, Bastian A. Predator-Prey Interactions: Co-evolution between Bats and their Prey. Springer; 2016.
acoustic climate change

"Should we speak about 'acoustic climate change'? Due to the global nature of spread and taxonomically wide impact of noise pollution, it seems indeed reasonable to speak about acoustic climate change. Sound impact has typically been studied for a single source type and a single species. However, animals are often exposed to multiple noisy activities at the same time or in sequence, potentially in parallel with other disturbing factors such as changes in temperature regimes, drought, salinity, or invasive species. Investigating cumulative effects of different stressors will therefore be critical for our understanding of the ecological consequences of noise pollution and to come up with efficient measures for potential mitigation.We better treat noise pollution, like global warming, as an integral part of the global threat of human-induced climate change." [1]

References

  1. Slabbekoorn H. Noise pollution. 2019. Available at: https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0960982219308632.
acoustic ecology

"Ecology is the study of the relationship between living organisms and their environment. Acoustic ecology is thus the study of the effects of teh acoustic environment or soundscape on the physical responses or behavioral characteristics of creatures living within it. Its particular aim is to draw attention to the imbalances which may have unhealthy or inimical effects." [1]

References

  1. R. Schafer M. Our Sonic Environment and The Soundscape: the tuning of the World.; 1977.
acoustic fovea

"An area of high sensitivity to a specific, narrow range of frequencies in the auditory pathway."[1]

References

  1. Jacobs DSteve, Bastian A. Predator-Prey Interactions: Co-evolution between Bats and their Prey. Springer; 2016.
acoustic glints

"Changes in the amplitude and frequency in the echoes of bat calls from flapping insect wings perceived by the bat as amplitude and frequency glins against the constant echo from the background clutter." [1]

References

  1. Jacobs DSteve, Bastian A. Predator-Prey Interactions: Co-evolution between Bats and their Prey. Springer; 2016.
acoustic space

"The profile of a sound over a landscape. The acoustic space of any sounf is that area over which it may be heard before it drops below the ambient sound level." [1]

References

  1. R. Schafer M. Our Sonic Environment and The Soundscape: the tuning of the World.; 1977.
acoustic startle response

"A change in behaviour, usually involving a cessation of activity, in response to acoustic stimuli produced by a predator." [1]

References

  1. Jacobs DSteve, Bastian A. Predator-Prey Interactions: Co-evolution between Bats and their Prey. Springer; 2016.
active space

"The active space of a signal is the area over which the signal is perceived by the receiver. We normally consider the active space of a signal, but we can also consider the active space of different signal components." [1]

References

  1. Page RA, Ryan MJ, Bernal XE. Be loved, be prey, be eaten. In: ; 2014.
active time

"Is the female able to remember a call over that silent interval, and if so, does call complexity influence for how long the call is remembered—what we refer to as the call’s active time?" [1]

References

  1. Page RA, Ryan MJ, Bernal XE. Be loved, be prey, be eaten. In: ; 2014.
allophone

See phoneme

allotonic

"Sound frequencies outside the range of frequencies under consideration." [1]

References

  1. Jacobs DSteve, Bastian A. Predator-Prey Interactions: Co-evolution between Bats and their Prey. Springer; 2016.
amplitude

"The maximum deviation of an oscillation (e.g. a sound wave) from its mean value. The amplitude of audible sound waves is perceieved by human ears as the loudness of the sound." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
amplitude modulation

"Periodic modulation of a carrier frequency so that the carrier frequency remains unchanged and the amplitude fluctuates." [1]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.
analogue recorder

"An instrument for making analogue recordings of sound." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
analogue recording

"(on magnetic tape) A recording in which the sound is represented by a continuously variable magnetic charge (as opposed to a digital recording)." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
angrifflaut

See attack song.

anspringlaut

"Mounting song of male at end of courtship." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
anthrophony

See anthropophony.

"The term used originally was anthrophony, meant to specify human-generated sound as a component of the soundscape. It is a word that we have been using, incorrectly, since the early 2000s. Only recently, while giving talks in France during the summer of 2014, was it pointed out to me by our French hosts in Quimper (Pierre Mens-Pégail) and Paris (Jérôme Sueur) that the Greek prefix anthro meant cave, and not human, as we mistakenly assumed. Since we were not adressing the sounds that caves produce, in order to correct the term we needed to add a 'po' and modify the spelling to anthropophony." [1]

References

  1. Krause BL. Voices of the Wild. Yale University Press; 2015.

Synonyms: anthropophony

anthropogenic noise

"Noise pollution refers to the elevation of natural ambient noise levels due to sound-generating human activities, which may have detrimental consequences for humans and animals alike. Sounds of this kind are often referred to as anthropogenic noise. Some of these sounds are deliberate and wanted, such as music, sirens, seismic survey sounds or military sonar. Most anthropogenic noise, however, is an unwanted by-product, such as traffic or generator noise, and impulsive sounds from pile driving and explosives." [1]

References

  1. Slabbekoorn H. Noise pollution. 2019. Available at: https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0960982219308632.

See also: anthropophonynoise pollution

anthropophony

"all of the sounds we humans generate. Some of these are controlled, like usic, language or theatre. But most of what humans produce is chaotic or incoherent - sometimes referred to as noise." [1]

References

  1. Krause BL. Voices of the Wild. Yale University Press; 2015.
anti-alarm call

See reassurance call.

anti-alarm signal

"(= reassurance call) in mice." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
antidromism

"Bilateral alternation of stridulatory movements; stridulatory anti-phasis." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
antinode

The reverse of a node.

antiphasis

Out of phase by half a period.

Synonyms: fully out of phase

antiphony

"Duetting in which the partners take up the burden of the song in alternation, with such accuracy that the observer may not be aware that two birds are singing. Part of the courtship and post-courtship ritual maintaining the pair bond." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
appeau

"simulated bird call, sonic decoy." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
audiogram

"A chart or table relating hearing loss for pure tones to frequency." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
audiospectrogram

"A visual record of the frequency spectrum of a sound on a time-scale (obtained form an audiospectrograph)." [1]

"correctly used not for [audiospectrum], but for the graph of its variation with time." [2]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
  2. Citekey 5780 not found
audiospectrograph

"Equipment for producing an audiospectrogram." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
audiospectrum

See sound spectrum.

auditory organ

An organ used by an organism for hearing.

"An insect will be said to hear when it is demonstrably responsive to sound. An auditory organ is one which can be shown to mediate the above response or which can itself be shown by more direct means to respond to sound." [1]

References

  1. Pumphrey RJ. Hearing in Insects. Biological Reviews. 1940;15(1):107 - 132. Available at: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/brv/15/1.
aural masking

"The increase expressedin decibels in the threshold of hearing of the masked osund due to the presence of the masking sound." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
aural space

"The space on any graph which resulkts from plotting of the various dimensions of sound against one another. For convenience in reading usually only two dimensions are plotted at once. Thus time may be plotted against frequency , frequency against amplitude, or amplitude against time. Aural space is thus merely a notational convention and should not be confused with acoustic space, which is an expression of the profile of a sound over the landscape." [1]

References

  1. R. Schafer M. Our Sonic Environment and The Soundscape: the tuning of the World.; 1977.
auricle

"A flap sometimes partly concealing the tympanum." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.

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B

backward masking

"Overlap of background echoes with echoes from the target making it difficult for echolocating bats that do not use acoustic glints to detect the echoes from teh target." [1]

References

  1. Jacobs DSteve, Bastian A. Predator-Prey Interactions: Co-evolution between Bats and their Prey. Springer; 2016.
balz

"courtship display, serenade." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
bandpass filter

"A circuit (electronic or neuronal) which allows the transmission of a specific range of frequencies." [1]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.
beat

"(1) music: rhythmic pulsation, as e.g. three beats to the bar, etc; Sotavalta extends for bird song as follows: the smallest rhythmic unit; a single rhythmic accent that can be repeated after successive intervals, regular or irregular. Between beats may be sub-beats of a differnet order.

(2) physics: the periodic vriations of amplitude resulting from the addition of two periodic quantities of the same kind but slightly different frequency." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
bi-syllabic

"hybrid word; the correct form is disyallbic." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.

Synonyms: bisyllabic

binaural hearing

"Hearing with two ears. The counterpart is uniaural, not the hybrid monaural." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
bioacoustician

a collector and student of wildlife sounds [1] 

References

  1. Krause BL. Voices of the Wild. Yale University Press; 2015.

Synonyms: bio-acoustician

bioacoustics

"The study of sounds living animals produce." [1]

"The science of sound-production and hearing in living organisms." [2]

References

  1. Krause BL. Voices of the Wild. Yale University Press; 2015.
  2. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.

Synonyms: bio-acoustics

biophony

"the collective sound produced by all living organisms that reside in a particular biome." [1]

References

  1. Krause BL. Voices of the Wild. Yale University Press; 2015.
bombilate

To hum or buzz.

According to Oxford English Dictionary "Rare. Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.".

bombinate

To buzz or hum.

https://wordsmith.org/words/bombinate.html

build-up time

"The inteval of time that elapses between the instant when the envelope of a transmitted wave of specified frequency is first received, and the instant when it first attains a specified fraction of its steady-state magnitude. Hence for the animal emission: lapse time from the beginning of a given wave-train to the instant it attains its maximum amplitude." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.

Synonyms: building-up time

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C

calling song

"The song produced by an isolated male." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
cancrizans

"(music): imitation al rovescio, i.e. repetition of a phrase or figure in reverse in another part. By extension, applied to the playback to experimental animals of their own recorded song in reverse." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
carrier frequency

"The underlying frequency of a signal before modification such as amplitude modulation." [1]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.
carrier wave

"The carrier wave is the fundamnetal wave of a resonant song." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
castanets

"One reasonably well-understood example of a percussive mechanism involving two-body parts is found in members of the Austrlian moth genus, Hecatesi (Bailey, 1978). In these moths an area of the costae of the fore wings is modified to form small hard knobs whichhave been called castanets. These are repeatedly struck together at the top of the wing stroke to produce sounds which have given these insects the popualr name of 'whsitling moths'." [1]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.
celerity

Archaic: speed.

chant

See song.

chant d'acception

See acceptance song

Chant d'appel

See Calling Song

Chant de cour

See Courtship song

Chant de rivalité

See Rivalry song.

Chant ordinaire

See Calling song

chirp

"A sound which may consist of one or more syllables or pulses and which is normally heard by the human ear as a unitary event. Usually applied to the songs of crickets and related insects." [1]

"as equated to one movement (= Silbe, G.), Broughton, now abandoned and deprecated as over-restriced." [2]

"Preferred unitary dictionary sense, as first parameter of analysis: the shortest unitary rhythm element of a soun emission that can readily be distinguished as such by the human ear." bib]57890[/bib]

The BioAcoustica preference is to use echeme.

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.
  2. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.

See also: echeme

chorus

"A group of animals singing/calling together." [1]

References

  1. Jacobs DSteve, Bastian A. Predator-Prey Interactions: Co-evolution between Bats and their Prey. Springer; 2016.
clutter

"In the conext of echolocation, it is the echoes from the non-target objects e.g. background vegetation." [1]

References

  1. Jacobs DSteve, Bastian A. Predator-Prey Interactions: Co-evolution between Bats and their Prey. Springer; 2016.
CNS

Central nervous system

communal singing

See chorus

compass

"(of an emission apparatus): the range between highest and lowest frequencies emissable, see sound spectrum. Preferabel to range, because of the latter's use in the topographic sense." [1]

"(of a receptor): the range of frequencies receivable, from the highest to the lowest." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
complex free vibrations

"Free vibrations which are not simple sine-waves of steady amplitude." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
continuous waves

"Waves in which the successive oscillations are identical as soon as a steady rate is achieved." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
contrepoint de l'écrevisse

See crancrizans

courtship song

"The special song produced by a male when close to a female." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
crepitation

"The production during flight (or by flight-like vibration of the wings while on the ground) of a rattling, whirring or buzzing sound; the sound so produced." [1]

"A crackling sound produced by some grasshoppers by rapidly opening their wings." [2]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
  2. Hammelman J. Cricket Radio: Tuning in the Night-singing Insects. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press; 2011.
crescendo

A progressive increase in amplitude.

crypsis

"The minimization of detection through the use of visual, chemical, tactile, electric and acoustic traits when potentially detectable by an observer." [1]

References

  1. Jacobs DSteve, Bastian A. Predator-Prey Interactions: Co-evolution between Bats and their Prey. Springer; 2016.
cycle

"of a periodic quantity - a complete repetition of the series of changes that take place during the period of a recurring variable quantity.

By extension, cycle is applied to recurring quantities even when successive cycles are not identical." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
cycles per second

See frequency.

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D

daily rhythm

See nycthemeral

damped wave

"waves whose amplitude progressively decreasewith respect to time." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
damping

"The effect of the dissipation of energy of an oscillating system on its operation." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
decay time

"Lapse of time from the instant maximum aplitude of a waveform begins to decrease until it has fallen to zero or a specified level near zero." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.

See also: <a href="/glossary/build-time">build-up time</a>

decibel

db

"One tength of a bel, a logarithmic unit used to compare two levels of power." [1]

"Two powers P1 and P2 are said to be separated by an interval of n bels (or 10n decibels) when n=log10(P1/P2). The unit is dimensionless." [2]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.
  2. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
desperation call

"More precise term for one category of distress call." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.

Synonyms: desperation-call

DFT

Discrete Fourier transform

diel

"involving a 24-hour period. The word is an illegitimate neologism, coined in the absence of need; where daily will not do, owing to suggestion of daytime occurrennce, nycthemeral will, and is of respectable antiquity and regularly formed." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
digital recorder

"An instrument for making digital recordings of sound." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
digital recording

"A recording in which the sound is represented by numerous consecutive samples expressed in binary digits (as opposed to an analogue recording)." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
digitize

"To convert an analogue recording to a digital recording.! [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
diplosyllable

A syllable in which sound is priduced by both to- and fro- movements of the stridulatory apparatus.

"A syllable in which sound is produced by opening and closing wing-strokes in the Ensifera, and both upward and downward leg-strokes in the gomphocerine grasshoppers." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
doppelsilbe

"diplosyllable, not disyllabic sound." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
Doppler effect

"Change in apparent frequency of a periodic signal such as a pressure wave or light due to movement of the emitter or receiver." [1]

"The change in the observed frequency of a wave caused by the time rate of change in the length of the path of travel between the source and the observer." [2]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.
  2. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
Doppler shift compensation

"The emission of echolocation calls at frequencies lower than the hearing sensitivity of teh acoustic fovea so that the upward shift in frequency of the echo, as a result of teh relative velocity of teh bat to the target, ensures that frequency of teh echo is within frequency range of the acoustic fovea." [1]

References

  1. Jacobs DSteve, Bastian A. Predator-Prey Interactions: Co-evolution between Bats and their Prey. Springer; 2016.
DPOAE

Distortion product otoacoustic emission

DRN

Dynamic range normalization

duty cycle

"The ratio of teh duration of the call to the period of the call (call duration + time ot next call). Usually expressed as a percentage." [1]

References

  1. Jacobs DSteve, Bastian A. Predator-Prey Interactions: Co-evolution between Bats and their Prey. Springer; 2016.
DWPT

Discrete wavelet packet transform

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E

eavesdropper

"In the case of sexual advertisement sig- nals, the intended receivers are prospective mates, usually female conspecifics. Other receivers can also detect and respond to signals even if there was no selection on the sender to communicate with them. We refer to these receivers as eavesdroppers or unintended receivers. It is important to note that the terms intended and unintended should not imply intention- ality but instead refer to hypotheses about the selection forces that favored the evolution of these signals. With few exceptions, senders and receivers do not communicate in a private channel. The world is populated by unin- tended receivers, eavesdroppers who are attendant to the signals of senders, often to the demise of senders." [1]

References

  1. Page RA, Ryan MJ, Bernal XE. Be loved, be prey, be eaten. In: ; 2014.

Synonyms: unintended receiver

echeme

"(pronounced eck'eem) A first-order assemblage of syllables." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
echeme-sequence

"A first-order assemblage of echemes." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
echte Gehörsinn

"True sense of hearing", defined by von Buddenbrock (1937) [1] as a sense detceted by a resonating organ. 

"Wir werden einen Gehorsinn nur dann als bewiesen ansehen, wenn sich nachweisen lasst, dass das betreffende Sinnesorgan seiner Struktur nach spezifisch auf die Wahrnehmung von Schallwellen eingestellt ist. Das Kriterium des Gehorsinns ist daher das besonders ausgebildete Gehororgan, welches als charac- terisches Element in stets wiederkehrende Weise eine oder mehrere Membranen besitzt, die zum Mitschwingen durch Hesonanz befahigt sind.” [1]

This distinction between hearing and other vinratory senses, such as touch, is dismissed as anthropocentric by Pumphrey [2] : "Such a definition is clearly founded on the human analogy. The first sentence seems to imply that there is some fundamental distinction between sound waves and other mechanical stimuli, presumably on the grounds that touch and hearing are distinct in man, for the assumption can hardly be maintained in the face of the evidence bearing on the evolution of sound receptors either in vertebrate or other animals. But the second sentence goes even further. The final criterion of an auditory organ is not its specific sensitivity to sound waves, but a resemblance in certain arbitrary structural particulars to the human ear. If this criterion be accepted, fish are deaf by definition ... and only those insects with tympanic organs can hear. It is then necessary to invent an other sense, sensitivity to vibrations or Erschütterungssinn to explain the responsiveness to sound of animals which have no echter Gehorsinn."

References

  1. von Buddenbrock WD. Grundiss der vergleichenden Physiologie. Berlin: Borntraeger; 1937.
  2. Pumphrey RJ. Hearing in Insects. Biological Reviews. 1940;15(1):107 - 132. Available at: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/brv/15/1.
EER

Equal error rate

elementary waveform

"The hypothetical continuous wave-form to which any given wave-train emitted by an animal approximates; the basic signal." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.

Synonyms: elementary vibration

erschütterungssinn

Time devised by von Buddenbrock [1] for animals that can detect vibration without a resonant organ (i.e. those without echte Gehörsinn).

This distinction is criticised by Pumphrey [2] : "This invention has had unfortunate consequences, because of the tendency to regard sensitivity to vibrations as a special kind of touch sense in quite a separate category from true hearing instead of regarding it as including true hearing, which would be both logical and consistent with what is known of the evolution of hearing organs."

References

  1. von Buddenbrock WD. Grundiss der vergleichenden Physiologie. Berlin: Borntraeger; 1937.
  2. Pumphrey RJ. Hearing in Insects. Biological Reviews. 1940;15(1):107 - 132. Available at: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/brv/15/1.

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F

FA

False acceptance
False alarm

faculative

"Optional." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
far field

"Distance greater than one wavelength from a sound source. In this region pressure and particle velocity are in phase and behave as plane waves." [1]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.
FB

Filter bank

figure

"the smallest melodic unit whcihhas a pattern; consist of one or more beats (and/or sub-beats). (Sotavalta)." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.

Synonyms: melodic figure

first-order assemblage

"An assemblage one level in rank above it's specified components." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
FN

False negative

forced vibration

"A vibration directly maintained in a system by a periodic force, and having the frequency of the force." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.

Synonyms: forced oscillation

formant

"Principal frequenciesin the sound spectrum of a human (or analogous) utterance, which, for a particular individual, are diagnostic of particular speech-elements, especially vowels in which some three characteristic formants (different for each vowel and for each individual) are present. They are resonance frequencies originating in the vocal tract , and in some but not all cases can be attributed to parts of it. The individual differences, especially between amel and female, in the formant complement appropriate ot a given vowel might be expected to lead to confusion bya hearer, and indeed Broadbent succeeded in making an experimental audience identify one and the same synthetic sound as bit it one context and bet in another; the diagnostic properties of the formant-set of a particular individual are thus relativte to those of the rest of the utterance, which is taken intoa ccount, computer-wise, by the hearer. [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.

Synonyms: formant frequencies

forward masking

"Overlap of teh emitted echolocation call with the echo reflected from a target because the target is too close to the bat making. The echo is said to be masked for low duty cycle bats because the bats hearingis still 'switched off' to avoid self-deafening." [1]

References

  1. Jacobs DSteve, Bastian A. Predator-Prey Interactions: Co-evolution between Bats and their Prey. Springer; 2016.
FR

False rejection

free vibration

"A vibration resulting from a disturbance of a system and having a period dpending solely on the properties of the system." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
frequency

"The number of cycles or oscillations per unit time in a periodic system." [1]

"The repetition rate of the cycles of an oscillation (e.g. a sound wave). The frequency of audible sound waves is perceived by human ears as the pitch of the sound." [2]

"The rate of repetition of the cycles in a periodic quantity. The reciprocal of the period. The unit is the cycle per second (in Europe, the Hertz: 1 c/s = 1 Hz). By extension applied to recurring quantities even when successive cycles are not identical. In bio-acoustics, there is some tendency to reserve the term for the spectral components opf the elementary wave-form alone, a useful expedient for avoiding the all-too-easy confusion of these with other periodicities (such as the tooth-impact rate); periodicity and rate themselves are convenient terms for these latter." [3]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.
  2. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
  3. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
frequency modulation

"A periodic change in frequency of a carrier frequency." [1]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.
frequency spectrum

"The range of frequencies in a sound." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
fret call

"More precise term for one type of distress call." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
full song

"Fully developed adult song under active sex-hormone influence, in contradistinction to subsong, juvenile song." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
fundamental frequency

"The frequency component of a note, usually the lowest, which provides the major proportion of the acoustic energy. Also called the first harmonic." [1]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.

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G

geophony

"the non-biological natural sounds prodiced in a givenhabitat, like wind in the trees or grasses, water in a stream, waves at the ocean shore, or movement of the earth." [1]

References

  1. Krause BL. Voices of the Wild. Yale University Press; 2015.
gewöhnlichegesang

Proclamation song

Gewöhnlicher Gesang

See Calling song

GFCC

Greenwood function cepstral coefficients

GIS

Geographical information system

GMM

Gaussian mixture model

GUI

Graphical user interface

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H

habituation

"Upon continual exposure to a signal, an animal will tend to ignore it, and some of the animal’s neurons will cease to fire." [1]

References

  1. Page RA, Ryan MJ, Bernal XE. Be loved, be prey, be eaten. In: ; 2014.
harmonic

"A note whose frequency is an integral multiple of the fundamental frequency. This is only true of an idealized system. In real circumstances the harmonics diverge from the inegral values to a varying extent." [1]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.
harp

"An area of clear membrane in the male fore wings of true crickets and mole-crickets, similar in shape to the musical instrument." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
hearing

The ability of organism to sense sound.

"An insect will be said to hear when it is demonstrably responsive to sound." [1]

"...the only distinction made between hearing and the tactile senses is based on the intensity factor and is quite arbitrary. Atthepresenttimenoconfusionarisesinpracticebecausethesensitivity of the auditory organs so far investigated is of a different order from the sensitivity of end-organs usually regarded as tactile. But the distinction is not fundamental, and it can be regarded as certain that further work will demonstrate the existence of end-organs intermediate in sensitivity between “hearing” and “tactile” end-organs. There will then be no justification for attempting a sharp separation." [1]

"Moulton discusses definitions of hearing, primarily in the vertabrate context. Of Pumphrey's definitions, there mentioned, that of 1950 '(an animal hears when it behaves as if it has located a moving object (a sound source) not in contact with it') is rejected as making hearing a definitively directional phenomenon.

His earlier definition ('demonstrable responsiveness to sound) is on the other hand too broad for some workers, and Dijkgraaf incorporates it as only the first of two mandatory criteria, returning to von Buddenbrock for his second, though removing the undue restriveness of von Buddenbrock's resonant membranes:  (1) demonstravle sensitivity to air- or waterborne sound; together with (2) detection of these stimulii with special detectors primarily used for this purpose. He terms (1) by itself, without (2), merely sound reception; and responsiveness to sound or vibration reaching the animal through the solid substratum, vibration perception.

Though these distinctions between vibration perception, sound perception, and "echter Gehörsinn" remain as artifical as they were in 1937, they are related more realistically to everyday experience than the attempt to treat all that shudders as sound and every reaction to it as a hearing response - and all that glisters as gold. Zoology, indeed, science itself, is founded on the abritary subdivision of intergrading series into finite classes, simply as working units for study; in the present context we can recognize the infinite series without having to reject the useful working distinctions between its parts." [2]

References

  1. Pumphrey RJ. Hearing in Insects. Biological Reviews. 1940;15(1):107 - 132. Available at: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/brv/15/1.
  2. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
hemisyllable

The sound produced by a to- OR fro- movement of the stridulatory apparatus.

Broughton (1963) took the view that this term should only apply to either of the components of a diplosyllable, preferring the term haplosyllable for syllables where either the to or fro motion was silent. Later authors (e.g. Ragge & Reynolds, 1998) often replace haplosyllable with hemisyllable.

"The sound produced by one unidirectional movement (opening, closing, upward or downward) of the fore wings or hind legs." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
Hertz

Hz

"The SI unit of frequency. The number of cycles per second." [1]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.
HFCC

Human factor cepstral coefficients

hiccup

See hiccough

high-pass filter

"A circuit (electronic or neuronal) which only permits the transmission of high-frequency signals." [1]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.
HMM

Hidden Markov models

homophony

"(1) music: opposite of polyphony, i.e. without contrapuntal interplay, melody and harmony moving by and large in the same direction.

(2) linguistics: the quality of being a homophone (a word looking or sounding liek another, but with a different meaning, as sun and son)." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
HTK

Cambridge HMM toolkit

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I

I.C.B.A.

International Committee for Bioloogical Acoustics.

IBAC

International Bioacoustics Council

International Bioacoustics Congress

impuls

See pulse.

impulse

"a brief change of current produced in a circuit. By extension, it could be used for a train of waves (electrical or acoustic) of which it constituted the envelope; but this train would have to be short relative to the interval between it and the next." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
impulsion

"strictly = impulse... in my experience, not used in the sense in which pulse is used in English, until recently, and then only in partial equivalence, as translated below from Grand LArousse, 1962:

radiotech: train of very high frequency waves, used notably in radar, whcih succeed one another periodically in time intervals of some decades of microseconds, and whose duration varies from some hundreds of microseconds to a fraction of a microsecond.

television: sudden variation of amplitudeof the modulation, used for transmitting time-base sync. signals.

The seocnd of these definitions is much the same as the British Standard for impulse; the first equates to certain limited kinds of pulse, (as well as to impulses), namely (1) of high-frequency waves; and at the same time (2) of short pulse duration (e.g. less than a millisecond).

It does not, however, specify that the pulse duration shall be short relative to interval or period, and this is where the new definition appears to me to depart from time-honoured practice in the French-language, which, when I was working in France 10 years ago, appeared to have no equvalent whatever to the everyday concept of pulse in the English-speaking world; at that time, impulsion, at least among the physicists I worked with, equaed rigorously to impulse, not pulse. 

Thus  the present situation is taht in the electrical context, impulsion can be used for anything from impulses, s.s. to pulse, provided the latter be of inframillisecond duration and of h.f. current. Pulse in acoustics still has no equivalent." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
interval of recurrence

"lapse of time between the end of one member of a series of more or less irregularly periodic sounds and thebeginning of the next. For the concept to have any real meaning in respect of irregular sounds, it must obviously be a mean of a fair sample." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.

Synonyms: interval of recurrent sounds

intrasyllabic

"Within a syllable." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
IoT

Internet of Things

isobel

Line on a map linking points of equal sound intensity.

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K

kc/s

Kilocycles per second. See kilohertz.

kilohertz

kHz

"A unit of frequency: 1 kilohertz = one thousand cycles per second. 1 hertz (Hz) = one cycle per second." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.

Synonyms: kHz

Kilpalaulut

See Rivalry song

Kosiolaulut

See Courtship song

Kutsulaulut

See Calling song

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L

labia vocalia

See vocal cords.

Laulu

See Song

lek

"An aggregation of males gathered to perform competitve displays to attract and compete for females." [1]

References

  1. Jacobs DSteve, Bastian A. Predator-Prey Interactions: Co-evolution between Bats and their Prey. Springer; 2016.
Lentoäänet

See Crepitation

level

"of a quantity related to power: the ratio, expressed in decibels, of the magnitude of the quantity to a specified reference magnitude.

Note 1: the word level is frequently used in compound terms such as "intensity level" and "sound pressure level" to relate a magnitude to a common reference magnitude or "zero level".

Note 2: in the absence of any statement to the contrary, the reference magnitude for stating sound pressure levels in air shall be 0.0002 dyne/sq.cm, and that for sound intensity levels 10-16watt/sq.cm." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
LFCC

Linear-frequency cepstral coefficients

Lied

See song.

Lockgesang

See Calling song

low-pass filter

"A circuit (electronic or neuronal) which only permits the transmission of low-frequency signals." [1]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.

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M

macrosyllable

"In bush-cricket songs with syllables of contrasting duration, a longer (more normal) syllable." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
mechanism

"(1) the apparatus by which sound is produced, e.g. strigil, plectrum, etc.;

(2) the meachanics of its utilization, e.g. friction, buckling, air-streams, etc. without reference to any relationship between this and the character of the sound;

(3) the process of translating the physical and biological properties of the apparatus and its mechanics into the physical parameters of sound (e.g. tooth impacts per second into impulses per second).

These three meanings are quite distinct, and usually "mechanism" only means one of them; but at different times it is used in any or all three senses. This appalling confusion can only be cleared up if we say apparatus when we mean apparatus (see therefore, phonative apparatus, sound-production apparatus); mechanics when we mean mechanics - or possibly just phonation, sound productionas they stand; and for sense (3), to avoid repeated circumlocution, use a neologism, for no single word already exists. The best candidate seems to be phonomorphosis, defined as in (3); it is a word neither ugly, complicated, hybrid, nor irregular, and has a clear stymological relationship to its utilization (phonomorphogenesis might indeed better suit the pedant, but its lengtheliminates it).

If these recommendations be accepted, mechanism itself will remain as an invaluable umbrella term for those ocntexts where more than one of the three aspects are to be encompassed by a single word." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
mel

unit of pitch

Menzerath's law

Menzerath's law, or Menzerath–Altmann law (named after Paul Menzerath and Gabriel Altmann), is a linguistic law according to which the increase of the size of a linguistic construct results in a decrease of the size of its constituents, and vice versa.

MFCC

Nel-frequency cepstral coefficients

microsyllable

"In bush-cricket songs with syllables of ocntrasting duration, a shorter syllable, usually lasting less than 10ms." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
mirror

"An area of clear membrane in the male fore wings of a bush-cricket or true cricket." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
monaural

"deprecated hybrid for one-eared (q.v.) or single eared; properly, either uniaural (in contradistinction to binaural, for hearing); or platyphonic - or at worst, monophonic - (in contradistinction to stereophonic, for reproduction)." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
monitor

"To listen to a sound picked up by a microphone and reproduced through headphones or loudspeaker, while making a recording of it." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
monopulsate

"illegitimate, see unipulsate." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
motif

See motive

motive

"(music, preferable to motif): a figure, group of figures, or a phrase which has significance or is otherwise characteristic of a section, phrase, sentence or period. During the succession of the latter,a  motive recurs, varierd or unvaried, and therefore can give the whole succession - song - a cyclic impression (Sotavalta).

Armstrong uses teh term to describe the acoustic individuality of one, or perhaps two or more phrases. Thorpe uses it but little.

The differences are of degree, and not substantial at that." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
multipulse

"deprecated for multipulsate." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
multisyllabic

"hybrid for polysyllabic." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.

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N

natural frequency

"The frequency of a free vibration... not the same as resonance frequency" [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
natural period

"period of a free vibration." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
near field

"The area less than one wavelength from a sound source. In this area pressure and particle velocity are out of phase and sound measurements are unpredictable." [1]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.
node

"a point, line or surface of an interefrence pattern at which the amplitude of the sound pressure (pressure node) or particle velocity (velocity node) is zero (ir, in practice, a minimum)." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
noise

"(1) sound which is undesired by the recipient. Undesired electrical disturbance in a transmission channel or device may also be termed noise, in which case the qualififcation electrical should be included unless it is self evident.

(2) Sound without regularities, confused sum of many unrelated sounds heard together.

(3)"white noise", the extreme case of (2), in which the sound spectrum contains all frequencies in more or less equal measure." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
noise pollution

"Noise pollution refers to the elevation of natural ambient noise levels due to sound-generating human activities, which may have detrimental consequences for humans and animals alike..." [1]

References

  1. Slabbekoorn H. Noise pollution. 2019. Available at: https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0960982219308632.

See also: <a href="/glossary/anthropophony">anthropophony</a>

normal mode

"a characteristic distribution of vibration amplitudes, among the parts of a system each part of which is vibrating freely at the same frequency. Complex free vibrations are combinations of these simple normal modes." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
Normal song

See: Calling song

note

"a. a conventional sign for a tone which indicates its pitch and duration;

b. the tone itself.

N.B. The tone may be, and usually is, complex." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
nycthemeral

"rhythym with a 24-hour repetition period. The best term of several." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.

Synonyms: nycthemeral rhythm

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O

off-tape monitoring

"Listening to an instant play-back of a recorded sound at the same time as recording it." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
ordinary song

See proclamation song.

ornithophony

"vocalization of birds" [1]

References

  1. Divyapriya C, Pramod P. Ornithophony in the soundscape of Anaikatty Hills, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. 2019. Available at: https://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/issue/view/14471-14630.
oscillogram

"A visual record of the waveform (and hence amplitude) of a sound on a time scale (obtained from an oscillograph)." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
oscillograph

"Equipment for producing an oscillogram." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
oscilloscope

"An instrument for displaying a waveform on a screen." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
over-modulation

"Recording at too high a level, thus causing a distortion in the recorded sound." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
overtone

"a partial whose frequency is higher than, but not necessarily an integral multiple of that of the pure tone to which the pitch would normnally be ascribed." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.

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P

pars stridens

The file portion of the stridulatory device. The plectrum is moved along the file to produce sound.

partes stridentes

see pars stridens 

partial

"a pure-tone component of a complex tone." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
period

"(1) acoustics: of a periodic quantity: the smallest time-unit for which the quantity repeats itself. By extension, the term period is applied eben when successive cycles of oscillation are not identical. The extension means taht the term is applied to the time elapsing between corresponding points of two successive members of a series of more or less irregularly periodic sounds. In the last resort, as irregualrities increase, the only corresponding points will be the beginnings, hence the ultimate permissable extension of the term for bio-acoustic purposes: lapse of time between two successive homologous members of a series of emissions measured from the beginiing of one to the beginning of the other. Clearly, however, the concept of period has no meaning outside of a repetitive context, and for the definition just igven to habe any meaning it is necessary to take a mean of the time-lapses between successive members in the whole series, or in a fair sample of it.

(2) music, applied to ornithology by Sotavalta: the smallest indepedant unit of expression: a unit of higher order than the sentence, consisting of one or several sentences which describe the whole expression. Periods are generally coordinated, and separated from each other by a silent interval. A period can be an exact repetition of the preceding period, or be differnet form it; though it often has a simialr structure." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
periodic quantity

"an oscillatory quantity whose values recur for certain equal increments of time." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
periodicity

"neutal term for any count per unit time of a recurrent sound. If frequency be limited in use to spectral components only, periodicty becomes a useful term for all oteh repetion rates." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
phase

"the particular point in the cycle that a sinusoidal quantity has reached at the instant of investigation." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
phase difference

"(1) between two instantaneous values of the same sinusoidal quantity: the fraction of the whole period that elapses between their occurrence. 

(2) betwen two sinusoidal quantities having the same frequency: the fraction of the whole period taht elapses between the occurence of an instantaneous value of one and the instantaneous value of the other at the corresponding point of the cycle. By antural extension, the concepts of both phase and phase difference are applied to non-sinusoidal periodic quantities, even such as the left and right leg movements in locomotion or stridulation. These are symphasic, or in phase, when there is no phase difference, and the legs are moving in perfect unison; and antiphasic, or fully out of phase, when the phase difference is half a period and the legs are moving in exact anithesis." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
phon

" a psycho-acoustic of equivalent loudness, the need for which arises from the different sensitivity of the ear to differnet frequencies. The loudless level in phons of a pure tone is the intensity (in dB above reference level) of a pure tone 1000c/s pure tone asessed (as the modal value of judments by 'normal' observers) as being equally loud." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
phonation

"a common definition is the production of sound by voice; which presenst few difficulties if discussion is limited to the higher vertebrates. It will be clear, however, from study of this treatise, that there are many other machanisms in the animal kingdom where vibrating membranes cooperate with resonance cavities of some sort to produce what are essentially vocalized osunds in a manner essentially analogous to taht of teh vertebrate larynx and its accessories. There is therefore no real reason for limiting the use of the term to mechanisms of the higher vertebrate type. Nevertheless, in deference to common practice, and perhaps common sense, references to what is commonly accepted as vocal production have been enetered under phoantion, while other mechanisms have on the whole been entered under sound production, stridulation, or strigilation. Some overlapping is inevitable." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
phone

"umbrella term for a simple vowel or consonant sound." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
phonoreception

Term propsed by Beer et al 1899 [1] to replace hearing to "eliminate from the study of invertebrate behaviour all reference to human experience" [2].

"This proposal largely failed of its object. On the one hand, it was ignored by the majority of naturalists and morphologists. On the other, where it was adopted by the experimentalists, they often took over the new terms, but used them merelyassynonymsfor the old. The languagewas new, but the meaning was the same, and the core of the problem remained untouched. This problem, restated with reference to the subject of this review, is briefly the problem of defining the nature of the evidence which will justify the attribution of a sense of hearing to animals which differ radically from man in their organization and into whose 'minds', if such exist, we have in the nature of things no opportunity of seeing." [2]

"It has in no way cleared up the muddle which inevitably arises when a human observer endeavours to distinguish between phonic and tactile senses in an animal on the basis of his own sensory experience.This confusion is apparent right through the literature up to the present time." [2]

References

  1. Beer T, Bethe A, von Uexküll J. Vorschläge zu einer objektivierenden Nomenklatur in der Physiologie des Nervensystems. A. Georgi; 1899.
  2. Pumphrey RJ. Hearing in Insects. Biological Reviews. 1940;15(1):107 - 132. Available at: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/brv/15/1.
phonotaxis

"Directional movement in response to sound." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
phonotaxonomy

"The taxonomy of animals as indicated by the sounds they produce." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
Phrase

See Echeme

plangent

loud and resonant, with a mournful tone

plectrum

Part of the stridulatory apparatus that is moved along the file (pars stridens) to produce a sound.

"A scraper on the fore wing of a bush-cricket, true cricket or mole-cricket, which is rubbed againbst a file on the other ofre wing during singing. [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
polar plot

"A diagram drawin in polar coordinates to show the contours of equal energy surrounding either an emitter or reciever. Used, for example, to illustrate directionality of acoustic receptors." [1]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.
power spectrum

"Any complex waveform is composed of discrete sine waves in harmonic series. Fourier analysis is one method of analysing a sound to provide such a series, and a power spectrum is the result of such an analysis where the energy ine ach of teh harmonic components is usually displayed graphically." [1]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.
pulse

"A unitary sound normally produced bya  single movement of the sound-producing apparatus. It may be monocyclic, as in the osund produced by the wing of some Drosophila species, or polycyclic as in the closing stridulatory wing stroke of crickets." [1]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.

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Q

quality factor

Q

"A measure of the degree of frequency tuning in an acoustic system." [1]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.

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R

recording level

"The strength of a recorded sound; teh setting of the recording equipment control that determines this strength." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
resonant frequency

"The frequency of an oscillating system at which the maximum amplitude of oscillation occurs in response to adriving force." [1]

"The frequency at which resonance occurs in a system. N.B., this and natural frequency are not the same thing, though often used as if synonymous by bio-acousticians... this is the frequency an applied periodic force of minimal value has to have in order to keep the system vibrating. It is clealry higher than the natural frequency." [2]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.
  2. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
resonant song

"A song with almost pure dominant frequency. If thsi frequency is sufficnetly low, as is common in crickets, the song has a clear musical pitch." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
Rivalengesang

See Rivalry song

rivalry song

"The special song produced by two or more males reacting to one another." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
Rufgesang

See Calling song

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S

Seewave

R package for the analysis and synthesis of sound (seewave).

seismonasty

Thigmonasty or seismonasty is the nastic response of a plant or fungus to touch or vibration

Synonyms: thigmonasty

sensory bias

"A pre-existing bias in the senses of one sex towards certain stimuli, such bias having evolved in a non-mating context. Thebias is then exploied by the other sex in a mating context to obtain more mating opportunities." [1]

References

  1. Jacobs DSteve, Bastian A. Predator-Prey Interactions: Co-evolution between Bats and their Prey. Springer; 2016.
sibilant

Making or characterized by a hissing sound.

signal to noise ratio

"The ratio of the energy contained in the parameter of a signal important for communication to that from irrelevant or extraneous sources." [1]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.
Silbe

See Syllable

SNR

Signal-to-noise ratio

sonagram

"An audiospectrogram produced by a sonagraph." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
sonagraph

"A particular kind of audiospectrograph, producing a sonagram." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
song

"In bioacoustics this term is used in two main sense: in the broadest sense it is applied to the deliberate acoustic output of animals (or a group of animals) in general, and in a more restricted sense it is applied to the acoustic output of a particular species or individual." [bib]17157[/bib]

sound level

"Loudness." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
sound pressure level

SPL

"Sound pressure level measured in decibels relative to a reference level." [1]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.
sound wave

"Sound is arbitrarily defined as consisting of disturbances of the air of low intensity irrespective of whether or not they are of such a frequency and intensity as to produce the sensation of hearing in a human being. This definition of sound is open to objections. First,it excludes water-borne sounds. ... Secondly,it excludes sounds transmitted through the substrate." [1]

References

  1. Pumphrey RJ. Hearing in Insects. Biological Reviews. 1940;15(1):107 - 132. Available at: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/brv/15/1.
STDFT

Short-time discrete Fourier transform

stridulate

See stridulation.

stridulation

Sound produced by rubbing a series of projections (file; pars stridens) against a plectrum.

"The generation of sound in insects by rubbing legs, wings, or other body parts together." [1]

"Sound production by rubbing one structure against another." [2]

"The act of engaging the file and scraper in the stridulatory area for producing sound. [3]

References

  1. Jacobs DSteve, Bastian A. Predator-Prey Interactions: Co-evolution between Bats and their Prey. Springer; 2016.
  2. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
  3. Hammelman J. Cricket Radio: Tuning in the Night-singing Insects. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press; 2011.
stridulatory area

"The area on the tegmina that contains the file and scraper for producing sound. It is located at the basal section of the tegmina." [1]

References

  1. Hammelman J. Cricket Radio: Tuning in the Night-singing Insects. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press; 2011.
stridulatory field

"The area on the tegmina that contains the file and scraper for producing sound. It is located at the basal section of the tegmina." [1]

References

  1. Hammelman J. Cricket Radio: Tuning in the Night-singing Insects. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press; 2011.
stridulatory organ

"The area on the tegmina that contains the file and scraper for producing sound. It is located at the basal section of the tegmina." [1]

References

  1. Hammelman J. Cricket Radio: Tuning in the Night-singing Insects. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press; 2011.
strigilation

Sound created by rubbing body parts (more general than stridulation).

Strophe

See Echeme-sequence

Syllabe

See Syllable

syllable

"The sound produced by one to-and-fro movement of the stridulatory appartus." [1]

"Synonymous with pulse." [2]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
  2. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.
symphasic

With no phase difference.

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T

TDSC

Time domain signal coding

thigmonasty

Thigmonasty or seismonasty is the nastic response of a plant or fungus to touch or vibration

Synonyms: seismonasty

tonotopic

"In the nervous system; the map-like arrangement of acoustic inter-neurones such that their frequency responses and position are related." [1]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.
transient

"The sudden alteration of a signal due to the application or removal of a driving force." [1]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.
tremulation

"Vibrations generated by unspecialized parts of the body (e.g. oscillations of the abdomen) and usually transmitted via legs through the substrate on which the insect is standing."[1]

"Rapid shaking." [2]

References

  1. Jacobs DSteve, Bastian A. Predator-Prey Interactions: Co-evolution between Bats and their Prey. Springer; 2016.
  2. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
trill

"A sound in which the individual syllables run together to produce a more or less continuous note which may be amplitude-modulated." [1]

References

  1. Ewing AW. Arthropod Bioacoustics: Neurobiology and Behaviour. Ithaca, New York: Comstock; 1989.
tympana

Plural of tympanum

tympanal aperture

"The external opening leading to the tympanum, when it is not completely exposed." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.
tympanate

"Posessing a tympanic membrane." [1]

References

  1. Jacobs DSteve, Bastian A. Predator-Prey Interactions: Co-evolution between Bats and their Prey. Springer; 2016.
tympanic membrane

"A thin membrane that separates the external ear from the middle ear and converts air pressure flucuations caused by the transmission of sound to vibrations." [1]

References

  1. Jacobs DSteve, Bastian A. Predator-Prey Interactions: Co-evolution between Bats and their Prey. Springer; 2016.
tympanum

"The membrane forming the outer part of the hearing organ." [1]

References

  1. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.

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U

ultrasonic

See ultrasound

ultrasound

Sound beyond the upper frequency threshold of human hearing. The distinction between sound and ultrasound has no importance biologically except in relation to human hearing.

"Thus the terms 'sonic' and 'ultrasonic' apply to sounds of a frequency audible and inaudible, respectively, to the human ear; but the hearing organs of many insects respond to sound of both types." [1]

"Sound above 20kHz in frequency, and thus inaudible to human ears." [2]

References

  1. Haskell PT. Insect sounds. London : Witherby; 1961.
  2. Ragge DR, Reynolds WJ. The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe. Colchester, Essex: Harley Books; 1998.

Synonyms: ultrasonic

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V

Vers

See Echeme

Verse

See Echeme

vocal sac

"The flexible membrane of skin in male frogs used to amplify their mating/advertisment calls." [1]

References

  1. Jacobs DSteve, Bastian A. Predator-Prey Interactions: Co-evolution between Bats and their Prey. Springer; 2016.

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W

Werbegesang

See Courtship song

white noise

"[noise in which] the sound spectrum contains all frequencies in more or less equal measure." [1]

References

  1. Broughton WB. Glossarial Index. In: Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Acoustic Behavior of Animals. Elsevier; 1963.
WSN

Wireless sensor network

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Z

Zipf's law

Zipf's law was originally formulated in terms of quantitative linguistics, stating that given some corpus of natural language utterances, the frequency of any word is inversely proportional to its rank in the frequency table.

zwischenslbe rhythm

See intersyllabic rhythm

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Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith