Collecting ground truth annotations for drum detection in polyphonic music

In order to train and test algorithms that can automatically detect drum events in polyphonic music, ground truth data is needed. This paper describes a setup used for gathering manual annotations for 49 real-world music fragments containing different drum event types. Apart from the drum events, the beat was also annotated. The annotators were experienced drummers or percussionists. This paper is primarily aimed towards other drum detection researchers, but might also be of interest to others dealing with automatic music analysis, manual annotation and data gathering. Its purpose is threefold: providing annotation data for algorithm training and evaluation, describing a practical way of setting up a drum annotation task, and reporting issues that came up during the annotation sessions while at the same time providing some thoughts on important points that could be taken into account when setting up similar tasks in the future

Whombat: An open-source annotation tool for machine learning development in bioacoustics

1. Automated analysis of bioacoustic recordings using machine learning (ML) methods has the potential to greatly scale biodiversity monitoring efforts. The use of ML for high-stakes applications, such as conservation research, demands a data-centric approach with a focus on utilizing carefully annotated and curated evaluation and training data that is relevant and representative. Creating annotated datasets of sound recordings presents a number of challenges, such as managing large collections of recordings with associated metadata, developing flexible annotation tools that can accommodate the diverse range of vocalization profiles of different organisms, and addressing the scarcity of expert annotators. 2. We present Whombat a user-friendly, browser-based interface for managing audio recordings and annotation projects, with several visualization, exploration, and annotation tools. It enables users to quickly annotate, review, and share annotations, as well as visualize and evaluate a set of machine learning predictions on a dataset. The tool facilitates an iterative workflow where user annotations and machine learning predictions feedback to enhance model performance and annotation quality. 3. We demonstrate the flexibility of Whombat by showcasing two distinct use cases: an project aimed at enhancing automated UK bat call identification at the Bat Conservation Trust (BCT), and a collaborative effort among the USDA Forest Service and Oregon State University researchers exploring bioacoustic applications and extending automated avian classification models in the Pacific Northwest, USA. 4. Whombat is a flexible tool that can effectively address the challenges of annotation for bioacoustic research. It can be used for individual and collaborative work, hosted on a shared server or accessed remotely, or run on a personal computer without the need for coding skills.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables, to be submitted to Methods in Ecology and Evolutio

Chasing the bird: 3D acoustic tracking of aerial flight displays with a minimal planar microphone array

Tracking the flight patterns of birds and bats in three-dimensional space is central to key questions in evolutionary ecology but remains a difficult technical challenge. For example, complex aerial flight displays are common among birds breeding in open habitats, but information on flight performance is limited. Here, we demonstrate the feasibility of using a large ground-based 4-microphone planar array to track the aerial flight displays of the cryptic Jack Snipe Lymnocryptes minimus. The main element of male display flights resembles a galloping horse at a distance. Under conditions of sufficient signal-to-noise ratio and of vertical alignment with the microphone array, we successfully tracked male snipe in 3D space for up to 25 seconds with a total flight path of 280 m. The ’gallop’ phase of male snipe dropped from ca. 141 to 64 m above ground at an average velocity of 77 km/h and up to 92 km/h. Our project is one of the first applications of bioacoustics to measure 3D flight paths of birds under field conditions, and our results were consistent with our visual observations. Our microphone array and postprocessing workflow provides a standardised protocol that could be used to collect comparative data on birds with complex aerial flight displays. Acoustic display; animal flight; flight tracking; Jack Snipe; Lymnocryptes minimus; microphone arraypublishedVersio

That Doesn\u27t Sound Like Me: Student Perceptions of Semiotic Resources in Written-Aural Remediation Practices

This dissertation examines students\u27 composing practices when working with unfamiliar modalities, attending to students\u27 messy material and cognitive negotiations prior to their production of a polished multimodal project. Working from a conceptual vocabulary from composition studies and semiotics, I frame composing as an act of semiotic remediation, attending to students\u27 repurposing and understanding of written and aural materials in composition and their impact on their learning. Specifically, this research uses a grounded theory methodology to examine the attitudes, experiences, and composing practices of first-year writing students enrolled in a composition II course at a private, liberal arts institution in the South who were tasked with revising their writing into–and through–sound editing software to complete an audio revision project. This study examines the practices and evolving attitudes of seven students using various materials and the impact of their composing process on learning and interpersonal development. Findings from this study are used to develop a body of concepts that work together to theorize about the impact of semiotic remediation on students\u27 composing practices and their learning

Designing a Web Application for Simple and Collaborative Video Annotation That Meets Teaching Routines and Educational Requirements

Video annotation and analysis is an important activity for teaching with and about audiovisual media artifacts because it helps students to learn how to identify textual and formal connections in media products. But school teachers lack adequate tools for video annotation and analysis in media education that are easy-to-use, integrate into established teaching organization, and support quick collaborative work. To address these challenges, we followed a design-based research approach and conducted qualitative interviews with teachers to develop TRAVIS GO, a web application for simple and collaborative video annotation. TRAVIS GO allows for quick and easy use within established teaching settings. The web application provides basic analytical features in an adaptable work space. Key didactic features include tagging and commenting on posts, sharing and exporting projects, and working in live collaboration. Teachers can create assignments according to grade level, learning subject, and class size. Our work contributes further insights for the CSCW community about how to implement user demands into developing educational tools

The Elaborate Postural Display of Courting Drosophila persimilis Flies Produces Substrate-Borne Vibratory Signals.

Sexual selection has led to the evolution of extraordinary and elaborate male courtship behaviors across taxa, including mammals and birds, as well as some species of flies. Drosophila persimilis flies perform complex courtship behaviors found in most Drosophila species, which consist of visual, air-borne, gustatory and olfactory cues. In addition, Drosophila persimilis courting males also perform an elaborate postural display that is not found in most other Drosophila species. This postural display includes an upwards contortion of their abdomen, specialized movements of the head and forelegs, raising both wings into a "wing-posture" and, most remarkably, the males proffer the female a regurgitated droplet. Here, we use high-resolution imaging, laser vibrometry and air-borne acoustic recordings to analyse this postural display to ask which signals may promote copulation. Surprisingly, we find that no air-borne signals are generated during the display. We show, however, that the abdomen tremulates to generate substrate-borne vibratory signals, which correlate with the female's immobility before she feeds onto the droplet and accepts copulation.This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust Investigator Awards to P. A. Lawrence WT096645MA and WT107060AIA.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Springer at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10905-016-9579-8