High Frequency Sonar Components of Normal and Hearing Impaired Dolphins

• Main Author: Dye, David C.
• Other Authors: NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY CA
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2000
• Subjects: Biology; Acoustics; *SONAR SIGNALS; *DOLPHINS(MAMMALS); THESES; DATA ACQUISITION; HYDROPHONES; TARGET DETECTION; VIDEO SIGNALS; HEARING; ECHO RANGING; DEAFNESS; ECHOLOCATION SIGNALS; Beluga; Beluga whale; Beluga*; toothed whale; toothed whales
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA384477; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA384477

A data acquisition device was constructed and tested to obtain toothed whale (Bottlenose Dolphin and Beluga Whale) sonar signals and digitally store them to a PC hard drive. The device had the capability of capturing sonar signals by means of a two-hydrophone array, and a digital video camera in a submersible housing. Cooperation with marine biologists at SSC San Diego enabled the sampling of three animals performing echolocation tasks. Their sonar signals, transmissions of rapid high frequency pulses called clicks, were recorded for further processing. Once the data was captured on video and hard disk drive, it was processed using MATLAB. Data from three different toothed whales, a normal Bottlenose Dolphin, a Bottlenose Dolphin with a hearing impairment and a Beluga Whale, was analyzed. It was observed that the animals reduced the interval between clicks when they located a target. Correlating the signal data to the video data made this observation possible. It appeared the animals searched with widely spaced clicks, then narrowed the click period upon target detection. Also, it was noted that the frequency of isolated clicks decreased as click period decreased. However, the hearing impaired Dolphin maintained his click frequency regardless of click periodicity.