Automated bioacoustics: methods in ecology and conservation and their potential for animal welfare monitoring
File(s)
Author(s)
Mcloughlin, Michael P
Stewart, Rebecca
McElligott, Alan G
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Vocalizations carry emotional, physiological and individual information. This suggests that they may serve as potentially useful indicators for inferring animal welfare. At the same time, automated methods for analysing and classifying sound have developed rapidly, particularly in the fields of ecology, conservation and sound scene classification. These methods are already used to automatically classify animal vocalizations, for example, in identifying animal species and estimating numbers of individuals. Despite this potential, they have not yet found widespread application in animal welfare monitoring. In this review, we first discuss current trends in sound analysis for ecology, conservation and sound classification. Following this, we detail the vocalizations produced by three of the most important farm livestock species: chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus), pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus) and cattle (Bos taurus). Finally, we describe how these methods can be applied to monitor animal welfare with new potential for developing automated methods for large-scale farming.
Date Issued
2019-06-05
Date Acceptance
2019-05-16
Citation
Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 2019, 16 (155), pp.1-12
ISSN
1742-5689
Publisher
The Royal Society
Start Page
1
End Page
12
Journal / Book Title
Journal of The Royal Society Interface
Volume
16
Issue
155
Copyright Statement
© 2019 The Author(s). Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.
Identifier
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsif.2019.0225
Subjects
General Science & Technology
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2019-06-19