This book is about studying the acoustics of marine animals using underwater acoustic techniques. Marine bioacoustics is a very broad interdisciplinary field that covers diverse areas as the production and reception of sound by researchers, the production and reception of sound by marine animals, the nature of sound propagation in the ocean, the nature of sound propagation in small tanks and other enclosure, signal processing techniques to acquire and store acoustic signals either on tape or in a computer, the analysis of sounds produced by marine animals, the characterization of hearing and sound production by marine animals, psycho-acoustic testing procedures, electrophysiological measurement procedures to name a few. Therefore, an accomplished bioacoustician must have some knowledge not only in the physics and mathematics of sounds but in the various areas mentioned above. This book attempts to discuss and unite the various areas of marine bioacoustics in a single text in as comprehensive manner possible.

Table of Contents

Part I: Principles and Methodology: Introduction. Measurement and Generation of Underwater Sounds. Transducer Properties and Utilization. Acoustic Propagation. Signal Recording and Data Acquisition. Fourier Analysis. Auditory System of Mammals and Fish. Experimental Psychological and Physiological Methodology.- Part II Acoustics of Marine Animals: Hearing in Marine Animals. Emission of Social Sounds by Marine Mammals. Echolocation in Marine Mammals. Some Signal Processing Techniques. Some Instrumentation for Marine Bioacoustics Research.

About the Author

Whitlow W.L. Au and Mardi C. Hastings have been involved with scientific acoustic research on marine animals for many years and their total combined span of time in this field extends over 5 decades.

Reviews

From the reviews: "Provides a comprehensive overview of the bioacoustics of marine life. It is targeted for bioacousticians, and is intended to focus on areas of knowledge that they should master. ! This book achieves its objective of providing that knowledge base. It also is a valuable information source for engineers and scientists with a background in acoustics, and who are interested in gaining insights into the bioacoustics of marine life. ! a valuable information source on marine bioacoustics and is recommended." (Martin L. Pollack, Noise Control Engineering Journal, Vol. 58 (6), November-December, 2010)