A Quantitative Evaluation of the Performance of the Low-Cost AudioMoth Acoustic Recording Unit
The AudioMoth is a popular autonomous recording unit (ARU) that is widely used to record vocalizing species in the field. Despite its growing use, there have been few quantitative tests on the performance of this recorder. Such information is needed to design effective field surveys and to appropria...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/11/5254 |
| _version_ | 1827739173211078656 |
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| author | Sam Lapp Nickolus Stahlman Justin Kitzes |
| author_facet | Sam Lapp Nickolus Stahlman Justin Kitzes |
| author_sort | Sam Lapp |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The AudioMoth is a popular autonomous recording unit (ARU) that is widely used to record vocalizing species in the field. Despite its growing use, there have been few quantitative tests on the performance of this recorder. Such information is needed to design effective field surveys and to appropriately analyze recordings made by this device. Here, we report the results of two tests designed to evaluate the performance characteristics of the AudioMoth recorder. First, we performed indoor and outdoor pink noise playback experiments to evaluate how different device settings, orientations, mounting conditions, and housing options affect frequency response patterns. We found little variation in acoustic performance between devices and relatively little effect of placing recorders in a plastic bag for weather protection. The AudioMoth has a mostly flat on-axis response with a boost above 3 kHz, with a generally omnidirectional response that suffers from attenuation behind the recorder, an effect that is accentuated when it is mounted on a tree. Second, we performed battery life tests under a variety of recording frequencies, gain settings, environmental temperatures, and battery types. We found that standard alkaline batteries last for an average of 189 h at room temperature using a 32 kHz sample rate, and that lithium batteries can last for twice as long at freezing temperatures compared to alkaline batteries. This information will aid researchers in both collecting and analyzing recordings generated by the AudioMoth recorder. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T02:57:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d5d2ecec5ffc40a7856089fd12950d7f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T02:57:07Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-d5d2ecec5ffc40a7856089fd12950d7f2023-11-18T08:34:40ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202023-06-012311525410.3390/s23115254A Quantitative Evaluation of the Performance of the Low-Cost AudioMoth Acoustic Recording UnitSam Lapp0Nickolus Stahlman1Justin Kitzes2Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, 103 Clapp Hall, Fifth and Ruskin Avenues, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USADepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, 103 Clapp Hall, Fifth and Ruskin Avenues, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USADepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, 103 Clapp Hall, Fifth and Ruskin Avenues, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USAThe AudioMoth is a popular autonomous recording unit (ARU) that is widely used to record vocalizing species in the field. Despite its growing use, there have been few quantitative tests on the performance of this recorder. Such information is needed to design effective field surveys and to appropriately analyze recordings made by this device. Here, we report the results of two tests designed to evaluate the performance characteristics of the AudioMoth recorder. First, we performed indoor and outdoor pink noise playback experiments to evaluate how different device settings, orientations, mounting conditions, and housing options affect frequency response patterns. We found little variation in acoustic performance between devices and relatively little effect of placing recorders in a plastic bag for weather protection. The AudioMoth has a mostly flat on-axis response with a boost above 3 kHz, with a generally omnidirectional response that suffers from attenuation behind the recorder, an effect that is accentuated when it is mounted on a tree. Second, we performed battery life tests under a variety of recording frequencies, gain settings, environmental temperatures, and battery types. We found that standard alkaline batteries last for an average of 189 h at room temperature using a 32 kHz sample rate, and that lithium batteries can last for twice as long at freezing temperatures compared to alkaline batteries. This information will aid researchers in both collecting and analyzing recordings generated by the AudioMoth recorder.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/11/5254ARUautomated recording unitAudioMothacoustic monitoring |
| spellingShingle | Sam Lapp Nickolus Stahlman Justin Kitzes A Quantitative Evaluation of the Performance of the Low-Cost AudioMoth Acoustic Recording Unit Sensors ARU automated recording unit AudioMoth acoustic monitoring |
| title | A Quantitative Evaluation of the Performance of the Low-Cost AudioMoth Acoustic Recording Unit |
| title_full | A Quantitative Evaluation of the Performance of the Low-Cost AudioMoth Acoustic Recording Unit |
| title_fullStr | A Quantitative Evaluation of the Performance of the Low-Cost AudioMoth Acoustic Recording Unit |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Quantitative Evaluation of the Performance of the Low-Cost AudioMoth Acoustic Recording Unit |
| title_short | A Quantitative Evaluation of the Performance of the Low-Cost AudioMoth Acoustic Recording Unit |
| title_sort | quantitative evaluation of the performance of the low cost audiomoth acoustic recording unit |
| topic | ARU automated recording unit AudioMoth acoustic monitoring |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/11/5254 |
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