Manual evaluation of automated recording device files

Byrne, Michael

This Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) describes the steps involved with manually evaluating audio files collected with an automated recording device (ARD). Manual evaluation is used to determine error rates of automated analysis/processing, or when automated analysis/processing options are not available. Prior to implementing this SOP, the user should have an astute familiarity with the vocalizations of the target taxa, the spectrograms of those vocalizations, the characteristics and limitations of the recording devices, and the location from which the recordings were collected. Manual evaluation of audio files collected by an automated-recording device is currently warranted in three scenarios: (1) to determine the false negative rates of semi-automated analysis procedures to evaluate recognizer efficacy, (2) to generate a dataset of wildlife detections from audio files when recognizer files do not exist, and/or (3) to generate a dataset from audio files if a particular recognizer is deemed ineffective while the recognizer is improved. “Recognizers” are species-specific generalized computer algorithms derived from the visual representation (i.e., spectral characteristics or spectrogram) of a vocalization that, in a simplified description, facilitate pattern recognition. The SECN currently uses recognizers created in the Song Scope software package developed by Wildlife Acoustics, Inc.

Manual evaluation of automated recording device files

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