Acoustic communication in two freshwater gobies: ambient noise and short-range propagation in shallow streams

Noise is an important theoretical constraint on the evolution of signal form and sensory performance. In order to determine environmental constraints on the communication of two freshwater gobies Padogobius martensii and Gobius nigricans, numerous noise spectra were measured from quiet areas and ones adjacent to waterfalls and rapids in two shallow stony streams. Propagation of goby sounds and waterfall noise was also measured. A quiet window around 100 Hz is present in many noise spectra from noisy locations. The window lies between two noise sources, a low-frequency one attributed to turbulence, and a high-frequency one (200-500 Hz) attributed to bubble noise from water breaking the surface. Ambient noise from a waterfall (frequencies below 1 kHz) attenuates as much as 30 dB between 1 and 2 m, after which values are variable without further attenuation (i.e., buried in the noise floor). Similarly, courtship sounds of P. martensii attenuate as much as 30 dB between 5 and 50 cm. Since gobies are known to court in noisy as well as quiet locations in these streams, their acoustic communication system (sounds and auditory system) must be able to cope with short-range propagation dictated by shallow depths and ambient noise in noisy locations.     

Canopy spectral invariants, Part 2: Application to classification of forest types from hyperspectral data

Many studies have been conducted to demonstrate the ability of hyperspectral data to discriminate plant dominant species. Most of them have employed the use of empirically based techniques, which are site specific, requires some initial training based on characteristics of known leaf and/or canopy spectra and therefore may not be extendable to operational use or adapted to changing or unknown land cover. In this paper we propose a physically based approach for separation of dominant forest type using hyperspectral data. The radiative transfer theory of canopy spectral invariants underlies the approach, which facilitates parameterization of the canopy reflectance in terms of the leaf spectral scattering and two spectrally invariant and structurally varying variables—recollision and directional escape probabilities. The methodology is based on the idea of retrieving spectrally invariant parameters from hyperspectral data first, and then relating their values to structural characteristics of three-dimensional canopy structure. Theoretical and empirical analyses of ground and airborne data acquired by Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) over two sites in New England, USA, suggest that the canopy spectral invariants convey information about canopy structure at both the macro- and micro-scales. The total escape probability (one minus recollision probability) varies as a power function with the exponent related to the number of nested hierarchical levels present in the pixel. Its base is a geometrical mean of the local total escape probabilities and accounts for the cumulative effect of canopy structure over a wide range of scales. The ratio of the directional to the total escape probability becomes independent of the number of hierarchical levels and is a function of the canopy structure at the macro-scale such as tree spatial distribution, crown shape and size, within-crown foliage density and ground cover. These properties allow for the natural separation of dominant forest classes based on the location of points on the total escape probability vs the ratio log-log plane.     

Cross-correlation in band-limited ocean ambient noise fields

Observations of ambient noise in the ocean are generally band limited, because of the natural spectral shape of the noise or the restricted bandwidth of the detection system. Either way, the noise may be regarded as white noise to which a band-limiting filter has been applied. An analysis of the two-point cross-correlation function of such filtered noise is presented for two cases, isotropic and surface-generated noise. The most pronounced effects occur with high-pass and bandpass filters when the low-frequency cut-off falls well above the first few zeros in the coherence function. In this situation, the sensor separation is very many times the longest acoustic wavelength (associated with the lowest frequency) in the passband. The filtering then produces sharp pulses at correlation delays equal to the numerical value of the acoustic travel time between the sensors. Although these pulses are narrow, they have a finite width, within which a fine structure appears in the form of multiple rapid oscillations, due to the differentiating action of the filter. The number of such oscillations increases as the low-frequency roll-off of the filter becomes steeper. This fine structure is evident in several recently published experimental determinations of the cross-correlation function of band-limited ocean ambient noise.     

Geoacoustic inversion of ambient noise: a simple method

The vertical directionality of ambient noise is strongly influenced by seabed reflections. Therefore, potentially, geoacoustic parameters can be inferred by inversion of the noise. In this approach, using vertical array measurements, the reflection loss is found directly by comparing the upward- with the downward-going noise. Theory suggests that this simple ratio is, in fact, the power reflection coefficient-potentially a function of angle and frequency. Modeling and parameter searching are minimized, and the method does not require a detailed knowledge of the noise source distribution. The approach can handle stratified environments and is believed to tolerate range dependence. Experimental data from five sites, four in the Mediterranean, one on the New Jersey Shelf, are described. Most of the Mediterranean sites had temporally varying noise directionality, yet yielded the same reflection properties, as one would hope. One site was visited in conditions of very low surface noise. This paper concentrates on an experimental demonstration of the feasibility of the method and data quality issues rather than automatic search techniques for geoacoustic parameters.     

Comparative study on corona-generated audible noise and radio noise of ac long-term operating conductors with two bundle types

The corona-generated audible noise (AN) and radio noise (RN) of the long-term operating conductors with two bundle types was investigated and compared based on a corona cage measurement system. The surface morphologies of eight conductors were measured and the average surface roughness (R_a) was calculated. With the raise of conductor bundles, the maximum electric field distortion level (β₄), the relative difference of ionization intensity (γ₄) between long-term operating conductors and new conductors decreased. Adding the number of sub-conductors turned out to be an effective method to improve AN and RN of long-term operating conductors in the contaminated areas.     

High-frequency wind-driven ambient noise in shallow brackish water: measurements and spectra

Ambient noise measurements were carried out in shallow brackish water within a frequency range extending up to 70 kHz. The high-frequency spectral slopes become steeper above 10 kHz at intermediate and high wind speeds. This is because the start of the wind speed dependence shifts rapidly to higher wind speeds at frequencies above 13 kHz. A physical explanation for this observation may be the low proportion of bubbles in brackish water that are small enough to radiate sound above 10 kHz. Such bubbles apparently do not begin to develop in brackish water until high wind speeds are attained.     

Wind-generated ambient noise in a topographically isolated basin: a pre-industrial era proxy

During the mid-1980s, calibrated measurements of ambient noise and wind speed were made in the Tongue of the Ocean in the Bahamas to quantify the spectra and statistics of wind-generated noise. This deep basin is topographically isolated from the Atlantic Ocean and, therefore, largely acoustically decoupled from the Atlantic Ocean deep sound channel. The quantitative effects of contaminating (non-surface wind-generated) noise sources within the basin were eliminated by careful measurement and robust statistical analysis methodologies. Above 500 Hz, the spectral slopes are approximately -5 dB per octave and independent of wind speed. Below 500 Hz, the ambient noise is no longer a linear function of wind speed. Below 100 Hz and for wind speeds greater than 18.5 knots (kt), the ambient noise is independent of frequency. The minimum observed ambient noise level falls 13 dB below Urick's "light shipping" level at 30 Hz and 2-5 dB below Wenz's sea state zero level through the wind-dominated portion of the spectrum. The basin's geographical isolation and the rigorous measurement and analysis methodologies employed make this two-decade-old data set a reasonable and justified proxy for pre-industrial era ocean noise levels in the 20 Hz to 20 kHz frequency band.     

Analysis of high-frequency wind-driven ambient noise in shallow brackish water

Ambient noise spectra in a shallow brackish water environment were found to be steeper than expected at frequencies above 10 kHz. The high-frequency behavior of the spectra was resolved by modeling dispersion and noise in bubbly water. Bubble size distributions fitted to the brackish water spectra exhibit a distinctive maximum in the radius range 0.1-0.3 mm, and a substantial drop in bubble density below a radius of 0.1 mm. The brackish water distributions were tied to an oceanic spectrum with a spectral slope of 5.7 dB/octave obtained with a -3 / 2 power law dependence of bubble size density on radius.     

The effect of ambient noise on speech intelligibility in classrooms

Intelligibility tests were performed by teachers and pupils in classrooms under a variety of (road traffic) noise conditions. The intelligibility scores are found to deteriorate at (indoor) noise levels exceeding a critical value of — 15 dB with regard to a teacher's long-term (reverberant) speech level. The implications for external noise levels are discussed: typically, an external noise level of 50 dB(A) would imply that the critical indoor level is exceeded for about 20 per cent of teachers.     

北极海域海洋环境噪声建模与特性分析

北极海域海洋环境噪声的特殊性在于具有偶发的尖脉冲声,为分析其特性与规律,首先建模仿真分析不同脉冲噪声下高斯分布与α稳定分布的拟合效果,验证后者的鲁棒性。再从实测北极海域噪声中选取三种典型环境噪声为样本,通过对其非高斯性判定及不同分布模型对比,验证α稳定分布在北极海域环境噪声统计特性建模中的有效性,同时研究不同深度、不同频段对模型参数的影响,最后通过各月参数的统计结果与海冰密集度分析冰下噪声成因。由于通道数量有限,没有给出所有深度的变化规律。结果表明,北极海域冰下环境噪声具有明显脉冲成分和非高斯性,利用α稳定分布能更好的描述其统计特性;100Hz可作为冰下环境噪声脉冲性干扰源的划分界限;结冰期环境噪声具有强烈的非高斯性,而冰封期则高斯性较强。     

In situ measurements of surface impedance and absorption coefficients of porous materials using two microphones and ambient noise

An in situ measurement method is proposed for obtaining the normal surface impedance and absorption coefficient of porous materials using two microphones located close to the material without a specific sound source such as a loudspeaker. Ambient environmental noise that does not excite distinct modes in the sound field is employed as the sound source. Measurements of the normal surface impedance of glass wool and rockwool have been made using this method in various sound fields. The repeatability and wide applicability of the method are demonstrated by comparing results of measurements in one room with different noise conditions and in three other environments (corridor, cafeteria and terrace). The assumed diffuse nature of the sound field on the material is validated by using absorption characteristics obtained experimentally at oblique incidence. This method allows simple and efficient in situ measurements of absorption characteristics of materials in a diffuse field.     

Manifestations of small-angle molecular scattering in spectral line profiles

Based on a quantum-mechanical expression for the kernel of the collision integral and the dispersion intermolecular interaction potential, we have calculated the line profiles in which the collisions with scattering through large and classical small angles as well as the diffraction scattering of molecules have been simultaneously taken into account. By comparing the calculated profiles with those in the models of hard velocity-changing collisions, we show that disregarding soft collisions leads to a noticeably sharper line shape. In an effort to quantitatively process the spectra, we have parameterized the calculated profiles and obtained their algebraic approximation.     

海洋环境噪声与舰船噪声的频间相关与群延迟特性

本文研究海洋环境噪声与舰船噪声的频间相关与群延迟特性。理论与实验结果表明,舰船辐射噪声的频间相关远大于海洋环境噪声的频间相关,远距离舰船噪声的频间相关存在显著的群延迟。     

Dichotic speech recognition in noise using reduced spectral cues

It is generally accepted that the fusion of two speech signals presented dichotically is affected by the relative onset time. This study investigated the hypothesis that spectral resolution might be an additional factor influencing spectral fusion when the spectral information is split and presented dichotically to the two ears. To produce speech with varying degrees of spectral resolution, speech materials embedded in +5 dB S/N speech-shaped noise were processed through 6-12 channels and synthesized as a sum of sine waves. Two different methods of splitting the spectral information were investigated. In the first method, the odd-index channels were presented to one ear and the even-index channels to the other ear. In the second method the lower frequency channels were presented to one ear and the high-frequency channels to the other ear. Results indicated that spectral resolution did affect spectral fusion, and the effect differed across speech materials, with the sentences being affected the most. Sentences, processed through six or eight channels and presented dichotically in the low-high frequency condition were not fused as accurately as when presented monaurally. Sentences presented dichotically in the odd-even frequency condition were identified more accurately than when presented in the low-high condition.     

Characterization and modeling of wind-dominated ambient noise in South China Sea

<正>The action of wind on the sea surface plays an important role in the noise generation mechanism.Sea surface wind speed can be estimated accurately provided there is an accurate understanding of the relationship between the ocean ambient noise and wind speed.Many measurements and analyses of the wind dependence of ambient noise have been conducted.The approximate empirical rule given by Wenz[1]states that in the frequency band between 0.5and 5 kHz,the ambient sea-noise spectrum levels decrease     

Ocean bottom profiling with ambient noise: a model for the passive fathometer

A model is presented for the complete passive fathometer response to ocean surface noise, interfering discrete noise sources, and locally uncorrelated noise in an ideal waveguide. The leading order term of the ocean surface noise contribution produces the cross-correlation of vertical multipaths and yields the depth of sub-bottom reflectors. Discrete noise incident on the array via multipaths give multiple peaks in the fathometer response. These peaks may obscure the sub-bottom reflections but can be attenuated with use of minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) steering vectors. The seabed critical angle introduces discontinuities in the spatial distribution of distant surface noise and may introduce spurious peaks in the passive fathometer response. These peaks can be attenuated by beamforming within a bandwidth limited by the array geometry and critical angle.     

A consistent determination of the pressure/toroidal magnetic-field profiles in Grad-Shafranov's equation

Summary We consider a dissipative model of a stationary, axisymmetric plasma configuration which allows to compute the pressurep and the toroidal magnetic fieldB _ϕ as functions of the poloidal magnetic flux ι in Grad-Shafranov's equation. This will be obtained through the solution of four coupled equations in the four unknownsp,B _ϕ,T (temperature) and ι.     

Covariant and consistent anomalies in two dimensions in path-integral formulation

We give a definition of a one-parameter family of regularized chiral currents in a chiral non-Abelian gauge theory in two dimensions in path-integral formulation. We show that covariant and consistent currents are obtained from this family by selecting two specific values of the free parameter, and thus our regularization interpolates between these two. Our procedure uses chiral bases constructed from eigenfunctions of thesame operator for defining _L and . Definition of integration measure and regularization is done in terms of thesame Hermitian operator . Covariant and consistent currents (and indeed the entire family) are classically conserved. Difference with previous works are explained, in particular, that anomaly in a general basis does differ from the Jacobian contribution.     

Effects of two types of noise and switching on the asymptotic dynamics of an epidemic model

This paper mainly investigates dynamics behavior of HIV(human immunodeficiency virus) infectious disease model with switching parameters, and combined bounded noise and Gaussian white noise. This model is different from existing HIV models. Based on stochastic It o lemma and Razumikhin-type approach, some threshold conditions are established to guarantee the disease eradication or persistence. Results show that the smaller amplitude of bounded noise and ˉR0 1can cause the disease to die out; the disease becomes persistent if R0 1. Moreover, it is found that larger noise intensity suppresses the prevalence of the disease even if R0 1. Some numerical examples are given to verify the obtained results.