Underwater Beats 

Beneath the surface of rivers exists a whole soundscape that mostly goes unheard. 

Now, a new study has developed a publicly available tool that relies on sound to help scientists uncover what is happening below the surface. 

“The problem is that listening-in is not as simple as it sounds,” lead study author Katie Turlington said in a statement. “Scientists drop waterproof microphones into rivers to record what is happening underwater, but in just one day, a single recording could capture tens of thousands of sounds…and manually analyzing them could take a trained professional up to three times longer than the recording itself.”  

The new tool was developed in R, a free program for the analysis of data that sorts volumes of uploaded audio files, sparing users hours of manual work. 

The tool scanned recordings from Warrill Creek, near Kalbar, in Queensland, Australia, and identified sections that contained sound. It then automatically grouped similar sounds, making it easier to determine what is present in the audio.  

Turlington added that the tool can detect sounds masked by the constant noise of streaming water, which often makes it more difficult to analyze recordings from rivers. 

“When tested in South-East Queensland streams, the tool correctly identified nearly 90 percent of distinct sounds, faster and with far less effort than manual analysis,” she said. 

The tool is also free, works with datasets of any size, and does not require users to have advanced coding skills. Turlington said she hoped it could change the way freshwater health is monitored, Cosmo Magazine added. 

“By listening to rivers, researchers can track changes in biodiversity, detect signs of disturbance, or even discover new species,” she said. “And because sound can be recorded day and night, in remote or murky waters, it offers a low-impact way to track changes in aquatic ecosystems.”  

The tool has been tested in underwater soundscapes so far, but researchers note it can be used in all kinds of ecosystems. 

“We’ve only just started to explore freshwater sound – making this tool publicly available and free means more people can get involved, ask questions, and hopefully make discoveries,” Turlington added.