Auditory communication in domestic dogs: vocal signalling in the extended social environment of a companion animal

Domestic dogs produce a range of vocalisations, including barks, growls, and whimpers, which are shared with other canid species. The source–filter model of vocal production can be used as a theoretical and applied framework to explain how and why the acoustic properties of some vocalisations are constrained by physical characteristics of the caller, whereas others are more dynamic, influenced by transient states such as arousal or motivation. This chapter thus reviews how and why particular call types are produced to transmit specific types of information, and how such information may be perceived by receivers. As domestication is thought to have caused a divergence in the vocal behaviour of dogs as compared to the ancestral wolf, evidence of both dog–human and human–dog communication is considered. Overall, it is clear that domestic dogs have the potential to acoustically broadcast a range of information, which is available to conspecific and human receivers. Moreover, dogs are highly attentive to human speech and are able to extract speaker identity, emotional state, and even some types of semantic information

Vocal Interactivity in-and-between Humans, Animals, and Robots

Almost all animals exploit vocal signals for a range of ecologically motivated purposes: detecting predators/prey and marking territory, expressing emotions, establishing social relations, and sharing information. Whether it is a bird raising an alarm, a whale calling to potential partners, a dog responding to human commands, a parent reading a story with a child, or a business-person accessing stock prices using Siri, vocalization provides a valuable communication channel through which behavior may be coordinated and controlled, and information may be distributed and acquired. Indeed, the ubiquity of vocal interaction has led to research across an extremely diverse array of fields, from assessing animal welfare, to understanding the precursors of human language, to developing voice-based human–machine interaction. Opportunities for cross-fertilization between these fields abound; for example, using artificial cognitive agents to investigate contemporary theories of language grounding, using machine learning to analyze different habitats or adding vocal expressivity to the next generation of language-enabled autonomous social agents. However, much of the research is conducted within well-defined disciplinary boundaries, and many fundamental issues remain. This paper attempts to redress the balance by presenting a comparative review of vocal interaction within-and-between humans, animals, and artificial agents (such as robots), and it identifies a rich set of open research questions that may benefit from an interdisciplinary analysis

Population-level consequences of seismic surveys on fishes : an interdisciplinary challenge

Offshore activities elevate ambient sound levels at sea, which may affect marine fauna. We reviewed the literature about impact of airgun acoustic exposure on fish in terms of damage, disturbance and detection and explored the nature of impact assessment at population level. We provided a conceptual framework for how to address this interdisciplinary challenge, and we listed potential tools for investigation. We focused on limitations in data currently available, and we stressed the potential benefits from cross‐species comparisons. Well‐replicated and controlled studies do not exist for hearing thresholds and dose–response curves for airgun acoustic exposure. We especially lack insight into behavioural changes for free‐ranging fish to actual seismic surveys and on lasting effects of behavioural changes in terms of time and energy budgets, missed feeding or mating opportunities, decreased performance in predator‐prey interactions, and chronic stress effects on growth, development and reproduction. We also lack insight into whether any of these effects could have population‐level consequences. General “population consequences of acoustic disturbance” (PCAD) models have been developed for marine mammals, but there has been little progress so far in other taxa. The acoustic world of fishes is quite different from human perception and imagination as fish perceive particle motion and sound pressure. Progress is therefore also required in understanding the nature and extent to which fishes extract acoustic information from their environment. We addressed the challenges and opportunities for upscaling individual impact to the population, community and ecosystem level and provided a guide to critical gaps in our knowledge.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Overview of the 2005 workshop on detection and localization of marine mammals using passive acoustics

The Second International Workshop on Detection and Localization of Marine Mammals Using Passive Acoustics was held in Monaco, 16-18 November 2005, two years after the first workshop on the same topic, held in Dartmouth, NS, Canada in November 2003. This paper is the overview of this workshop. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.</p

Beaked whale strandings and naval exercises

Mass strandings of beaked whales (family Ziphiidae) have been reported in the scientific literature since 1874. Several recent mass strandings of beaked whales have been reported to coincide with naval active sonar exercises. To obtain the broadest assessment of surface ship naval active sonar operations coinciding with beaked whale mass strandings, a list of global naval training and anti-submarine warfare exercises was compiled from openly available sources and compared by location and time with historic stranding records. This list includes activities of navies of other nations but emphasizes recent U.S. activities because of what is available in publicly accessible sources. Of 136 beaked whale mass stranding events reported from 1874 to 2004, 126 occurred between 1950 and 2004, after the introduction and implementation of modern, high-power mid-frequency active sonar (MFAS). Of these 126 reports, only two reported details on the use, timing, and location of sonar in relation to mass strandings. Ten other mass strandings coincided in space and time with naval exercises that may have included MFAS. An additional 27 mass stranding events occurred near a naval base or ship but with no direct evidence of sonar use. The remaining 87 mass strandings have no evidence for a link with any naval activity. Six of these 87 cases have evidence for a cause unrelated to active sonar. The large number of global naval activities annually with potential MFAS usage in comparison to the relative rarity of mass stranding events suggests that most MFAS operations take place with no reported stranding events and that for an MFAS operation to cause a mass stranding of beaked whales, a confluence of several risk factors is probably required. Identification of these risk factors will help in the development of measures to reduce the risk of sonar-related strandings