Measurements of humpback whale song sound levels received by a calf in association with a singer

J Acoust Soc Am. 2016 Nov;140(5):4010. doi: 10.1121/1.4967444.

Abstract

Male humpback whales produce loud "songs" on the wintering grounds and some sing while escorting mother-calf pairs, exposing them to near-continuous sounds at close proximity. An Acousonde acoustic and movement recording tag deployed on a calf off Maui, Hawaii captured sounds produced by a singing male escort. Root-mean-square received levels ranged from 126 to 158 dB re 1 μPa. These levels represent rare direct measurements of sound to which a newly born humpback calf may be naturally exposed by a conspecific, and may provide a basis for informed decisions regarding anthropogenic sound levels projected near calves.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Acoustics
  • Animals
  • Hawaii
  • Humpback Whale*
  • Singing
  • Sound Spectrography
  • Vocalization, Animal