Three-dimensional beam pattern of regular sperm whale clicks confirms bent-horn hypothesis

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
• Main Authors: Zimmer, Walter M. X., Tyack, Peter L., Johnson, Mark P., Madsen, Peter T.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Acoustical Society of America 2005
• Subjects: Bioacoustics; Biocommunications; Array signal processing; Echo; Hydrophones; Multidimensional signal processing; Underwater sound; Sonar signal processing; Physeter macrocephalus; Sperm whale
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1912/2361

Author Posting. © Acoustical Society of America, 2005. This article is posted here by permission of Acoustical Society of America for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 117 (2005): 1473-1485, doi:10.1121/1.1828501. The three-dimensional beam pattern of a sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) tagged in the Ligurian Sea was derived using data on regular clicks from the tag and from hydrophones towed behind a ship circling the tagged whale. The tag defined the orientation of the whale, while sightings and beamformer data were used to locate the whale with respect to the ship. The existence of a narrow, forward-directed P1 beam with source levels exceeding 210 dBpeak re: 1 µPa at 1 m is confirmed. A modeled forward-beam pattern, that matches clicks >20° off-axis, predicts a directivity index of 26.7 dB and source levels of up to 229 dBpeak re: 1 µPa at 1 m. A broader backward-directed beam is produced by the P0 pulse with source levels near 200 dBpeak re: 1 µPa at 1 m and a directivity index of 7.4 dB. A low-frequency component with source levels near 190 dBpeak re: 1 µPa at 1 m is generated at the onset of the P0 pulse by air resonance. The results support the bent-horn model of sound production in sperm whales. While the sperm whale nose appears primarily adapted to produce an intense forward-directed sonar signal, less-directional click components convey information to conspecifics, and give rise to echoes from the seafloor and the surface, which may be useful for orientation during dives. This work was funded by grants from the Office of Naval Research Grants N00014-99-1-0819 and N00014-01-1-0705, and the Packard Foundation.