BIOACOUSTICS DATA ANALYSIS (BIAC06) – APPLICATIONS FOR MARINE MAMMAL RESEARCH
19–23 October 2026 - Live Online https://prstats.org/course/bioacoustics-data-analysis-biac06/ Delivered by Dr Marcelo Araya-Salas, a behavioural ecologist and scientific programmer whose research combines evolutionary biology, bioacoustics and computational analysis. Marcelo is also the developer of several widely used R packages for bioacoustic research, including warbleR, Rraven and baRulho. Learn how to analyse animal acoustic signals in R, from handling audio recordings and constructing spectrograms through to acoustic measurements, annotations, quality control and quantitative comparisons of signal structure. Bioacoustic methods are particularly valuable in marine mammal research, where acoustic recordings provide a non-invasive means of studying cetacean and pinniped vocalisations, communication and behavioural variation. The analytical methods taught in this course can be applied to marine mammal recordings to quantify and compare acoustic signals across individuals, populations, species, locations and recording periods. What you'll gain * Understand the fundamental concepts underlying animal acoustic signals and bioacoustic analysis * Import, manipulate and organise acoustic data in R * Work with wave objects and different audio formats * Understand Fourier transforms and construct spectrograms * Generate and customise spectrograms using seewave * Filter and resample acoustic recordings * Measure acoustic characteristics including frequency, duration and amplitude * Work with annotations produced in Raven Pro * Import and refine annotations using warbleR * Conduct quality control of recordings and annotations * Quantify acoustic signal structure * Analyse harmonic content and timbral characteristics using MFCCs * Compare vocalisations using cross-correlation and dynamic time warping * Calculate signal-to-noise ratios * Analyse higher-level structures and vocal sequences * Compare alternative approaches for quantifying acoustic structure * Explore acoustic spaces and compare vocal variation among individuals, populations or species Course format * Dates: 19–23 October 2026 * Time: 13:30–17:30 UK time * Duration: 5 days, 4 hours per day (20 hours total) * Format: Live online * Combination of lectures and hands-on practical exercises * Opportunities to discuss participants' own acoustic datasets * All code, datasets and presentation materials provided * All sessions recorded * 30 days' access to recordings * 30 days of post-course email support * Course fee: £400 Who is this course for? The course is particularly suitable for students, researchers and professionals working in: * Marine mammal science * Cetacean and pinniped research * Marine bioacoustics * Animal communication * Behavioural ecology * Passive acoustic monitoring * Population and behavioural studies * Marine conservation * Wildlife and biodiversity monitoring Participants should have a basic understanding of statistical concepts such as hypothesis testing and generalized linear models, and should be comfortable with basic R tasks including importing and manipulating data, plotting and basic modelling. Why take this course? Acoustics are fundamental to the biology of many marine mammals, particularly cetaceans, which use sound extensively for communication and other biological functions. Acoustic recordings consequently provide researchers with a powerful, non-invasive source of information on marine mammal behaviour and vocal variation. However, recordings contain complex and multidimensional information, and extracting biologically meaningful measurements requires appropriate analytical methods. This course provides a practical workflow in R, allowing marine mammal researchers to progress from recordings and annotations to reproducible acoustic measurements and quantitative comparisons of vocalisations. These approaches can support research into variation among individuals, populations and species, as well as temporal and geographic patterns in acoustic behaviour. Learn more & enrol Bioacoustics Data Analysis (BIAC06) https://prstats.org/course/bioacoustics-data-analysis-biac06/ Questions? Email: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Best wishes, Oliver Hooker PR Stats Sent from Outlook for Mac
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