Methods - Soundscape Ecology: Principles, Patterns, Methods and Applications - page 247

9.10 Software Tools for Soundscape Analysis
In the field of acoustics there are several softwares that process audio data and
produce sophisticated statistical analyses. Some commercial software can edit
sounds: CoolEdit, Gold Wave, Spectrafoo, Amadeus Pro, Free Audio Editor,
WavePad Sound editor, Sound Studio 2.
Others are more oriented on bioacoustics analysis, such as Raven, Song Scope,
Avisoft, Wildspectra, Canary, Spectra Pro, Syrinx, Sonobat, Pamguard, Soundruler,
Wavesurfer, SoundscapeMeter, Sound Analysis Pro, SeaWave, and Ishmael.
Some software is dedicated to signal analysis: Spectrogram, Syrinx pc, Osprey,
Signalize, Sigview, SpectraPlus.
This is not absolutely a complete list but just an indication for a first orientation.
According our knowledge only two free-domain softwares (Seewave http://rug.mnhn.
fr/seewave and SoundscapeMeter www.disbef.uniurb.it/biomia/soundscapemeter / )
have specific algorithms to processes the soundscape applying the metrics described
in the previous section.
9.11 Browsing the Audio Database
The autonomous recording units are able to store a giant amount of data at different
sampling intervals, but handling and inspecting audio files requires a massive
amount of work energy and time. A new web-based application that archives,
manages, retrieves, analyzes, visualizes, and allows listening to the audio files has
been recently designed by Villanueva-Rivera and Pijanowski ( 2012 ). This system is
called Pumilio and runs on the Ubuntu (Canonical Ltd. 2010) distribution of the
Linus operating system. Pumilio uses three moduli: a tool to import audio files, an
interface for browsing the archive, and a sound visualization and analysis tool. Data
can be imported in one click from a directory of the server (all files) or imported a
file at a time (Fig. 9.19 ).
Browsing data can be carried out by different approaches:
• A first method uses a Google map via spatial interface if the files are spatially
associated to a map.
• A second method consists of a form-based query or database, for instance by
selecting time or data ranges and site.
• A third method allows to browsing the archive using the label of a specific
collection.
• A fourth method consists in browsing files according to tags assigned a
specific file.
Sound is visualized, and is possible to select a part of the file and apply a
bandpass filter. The visualization allows marking specific signals, labeling them,
and then saving to the database. The selected data can be annotated with a specific