Deep Squeak refers to an artificial intelligence program designed to detect high-frequency “squeaks”, which mice and rats make when stressed.
A new application of this technology places a greater emphasis on the “deep”: It is being used to find whales and other marine mammals within ocean environments.
This is a classic example of mislabeling. Elizabeth Ferguson, a marine ecologist, and Ocean Science Analytics, the company that manages the project, are to blame.
The company helps people who are building offshore wind farms to track the impacts on marine mammals. This is done in order to ensure that they are not being hurt.
Ferguson states that any type of operation in the ocean requires monitoring or mitigation.
One option is to go out on a boat to look for dolphins or whales in your area. However, that won’t always be accurate.
Kevin Coffey, a University of Washington behavioral neuroscientist who studies stress-related calls in rats and mice, provided a solution. These calls are distinct from the sounds they make when they are not stressed.
His lab was often occupied listening to hours upon hours of audio in order to identify rodent calls. His colleagues at the University of Washington believed they could use artificial intelligence to alleviate this burden.
Coffey explains, “You take the audio signal and turn it into an picture. Then you can see the calls with your eyes.” Deep learning is a technique that computers use to identify and analyze images.
Coffey developed a program to classify the mouse calls visually as stressed or not. He called it Deep Squeak.
Elizabeth Ferguson learned about the program after she saw it in action. She realized that what worked for mice in cages could work with marine mammals in oceans.
The results of her modified Deep Squeak are shown on approximately two-and-a-half hours of audio that was recorded within a few miles of the Oregon coast. Any sound it deems to be a marine mammal sound has been given a green box by the program.
Ferguson states that although there is a large range of calls and high levels of variability, the system still does a good job of detecting them.
Deep Squeak is the right name for a program that detects whale call.
Ferguson laughs, “No, we’re not going to change it,” Ferguson said. “So we’re going calling at Deep Waves. ”
I explained to her that I didn’t believe that it had the same panache.
“Should you find something better?” Do you have any ideas?
I haven’t. However, if you have any ideas, please drop me a note. Jpalca@npr.org. It will be passed on to me.