OCE575

Marine Bioacoustics

Spring 2005

Wednesdays, 6:00-8:30 PM, CACS 108, Narragansett Bay Campus

Instructors: Office: Phone: e-mail:

Peter Scheifele Middleton 13, Bay Campus 860-405-9103 acousticp2@juno.com

James H. Miller Middleton 114, Bay Campus 401-874-6540 miller@uri.edu

John P. Preece 302 Fernwood (401) 874-4734 preece@uri.edu

Target Audience: Graduate students and upper level undergraduates in engineering, biology,
and oceanography interested in sound and marine animals.

Course Goal: To provide each student with the tools, techniques, and knowledge to understand
hearing and sound production in marine animals and the effects of man-made noise on these animals.

Catalog description: Introduction to marine mammal hearing, sound production, and the
uses of sound for communication and echolocation; dolphin sonars; analysis and processing
of marine mammal signals including passive tracking; the effects of noise on marine mammals.
(Lec. 3)

Textbooks: The Sonar of Dolphins by Whit Au (available in the URI Bookstore). Journal articles and handouts will also be provided.

Grading: This course will be graded A-F based on attendance, quiz/examination grade, and a project presentation and homework assignments.

Disablities: If you have a documented disability, which may require individual accommodations,
please make an appointment with one of us as soon as possible. We will discuss how to meet
your individual needs to insure your full participation and fair assessment procedures.

Blue whales are one of the loudest marine mammals and use low frequency sound to communicate over long distances underwater. Sound production in a blue whale is a subject of current research and will be discussed in this course.

List of Topics:

1. Introduction to course
2. Signal processing fundamentals
• Signals
• Systems, filters
• Frequency domain and spectral analysis
• Detection of signals in noise
3. Acoustic fundamentals
• Wave propagation
• Reflection, refraction, Snell’s Law
• Sonar Equation
• Source level, receive level, transmission loss
• Noise level
• Directivity, beam patterns
• Scattering and target strength
4. Introduction to cetacea
• Suborders
• Evolutionary adaptations
• Respiration
• Blood Flow
• Diving
• Beaked whales
5. The Receiving System Anatomy
• Outer Ear
• Middle Ear
• Inner Ear
• Comparative Mammalian Anatomy
6. Neuroanatomy
• The Skull
• Cetacean Brain Comparative Neuroanatomy
• Cranial Nerves
• Cranial Nerve VIII
• Central Auditory Pathways
7. Necropsy Head and Neck Pro-section
8. Psychoacoustics
• Neural pathways
• Neuron Function
• Neural responses to tones and clicks
• Localization
• Recruitment
• Spectral analysis Sensitivity
• Time Separation Pitch
• Sensitivity
• Simple Signals
• Complex Signals
9. Hearing
• Inner Ear Function and Physiology
• Noise exposure
• Temporary and Permanent Threshold Shifts
10. Electrophysiological Testing
• Early, Middle, late potentials
• ABR
• P-300 / N-400
11. Noise Effects
• Natural noise sources: wind, thermal, earthquakes, rain.
• Man-made noise sources: ship noise, geophysical exploration, sonars.
• Other forms of Anthropogenic Noise
• Average Noise Power Budgets as a function of location, frequency.
12. Sound Production Anatomy
• Tidal Breathing Versus Vocalisation Breathing
• Larynx, Trachea, Articulators
• Nasal Sac System
13. Active Vocalization
• Physiology
• The Melon
• Cetacean Signals
• Directionality of signals
• Characteristics of Cetacean sonar signals
• Open anatomy/physiology exam