Higher-order statistics for bioacoustic click detection

Overview & Synopsis

The passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) is a tool of choice for non-intrusive study of aquatic organisms in the wild. Anthropogenic disturbance may affect animal behavior and should generally be minimised. In this study, a PAM system was used to record the bioacoustic sound produced by the valve movements of the great scallop (\textit{Pecten maximus}). The primary function of PAM system is to detect bioacoustic emissions embedded in the background noise. Sounds produced by the great scallop are transients. Detecting them with power based detector could lead to misses particularly when signal to noise ratio is weak. In this paper, a click detection scheme based on higher-order statistics is applied to the monitoring of the great scallop in its habitat. The detector is effective in tracking the sound produced by the valve movements of the great scallop. The PAM system in association with the click detector represent a promising tool for monitoring, with minimal anthropogenic disturbance, the behavior of minimally mobile aquatic organisms in the wild.