TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schneider, Sebastian
A1  - Dierkes, Paul Wilhelm
T1  - Localize animal sound events reliably (LASER): a new software for sound localization in zoos
T2  - Journal of zoological and botanical gardens
N2  - Locating a vocalizing animal can be useful in many fields of bioacoustics and behavioral research, and is often done in the wild, covering large areas. In zoos, however, the application of this method becomes particularly difficult, because, on the one hand, the animals are in a relatively small area and, on the other hand, reverberant environments and background noise complicate the analysis. Nevertheless, by localizing and analyzing animal sounds, valuable information on physiological state, sex, subspecies, reproductive state, social status, and animal welfare can be gathered. Therefore, we developed a sound localization software that is able to estimate the position of a vocalizing animal precisely, making it possible to assign the vocalization to the corresponding individual, even under difficult conditions. In this study, the accuracy and reliability of the software is tested under various conditions. Different vocalizations were played back through a loudspeaker and recorded with several microphones to verify the accuracy. In addition, tests were carried out under real conditions using the example of the giant otter enclosure at Dortmund Zoo, Germany. The results show that the software can estimate the correct position of a sound source with a high accuracy (median of the deviation 0.234 m). Consequently, this software could make an important contribution to basic research via position determination and the associated differentiation of individuals, and could be relevant in a long-term application for monitoring animal welfare in zoos.
KW  - sound localization
KW  - bioacoustics
KW  - acoustic multilateration
KW  - vocalization
KW  - animal sounds
KW  - non-invasive
KW  - behavioral research
KW  - animal detection
KW  - animal welfare
KW  - TDOA
Y1  - 2021
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/62476
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-624763
SN  - 2673-5636
N1  - This research was financially supported by Opel-Zoo foundation professorship in zoobiology from the 'von Opel Hessische Zoostiftung'.
VL  - 2
IS  - 2
SP  - 146
EP  - 163
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel
ER  -