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Open Acoustic Devices: AudioMoth

DIY acoustics anti-poaching bioacoustics biodiversity cicadas extinction games sensors surveillance

Open Acoustic Devices is an Oxford ( UK ) based technology firm that designs, deploys, and supports open-source acoustic hardware and software. Their chief product, AudioMoth, are now regarded as a leading technology for eco-acoustical analysis and currently being applied in hundreds of forested spaces around the world. Computer scientist Alex Rogers (University of Oxford) is one of the principal developers of the AudioMoth technology, used initially for monitoring anthropogenic disturbances in the tropical forests of Belize.

The New Forest, Southampton, United Kingdom

Cicada Hunt

In 2013, Rogers, together with a team of scientists and developers, released a mobile phone app called Cicada Hunt, the predecessor of AudioMoth. This app was developed to track the possibly extinct New Forest Cicada, the only native cicada species in the UK. Visitors of the New Forest National Park in Southampton (UK) were encouraged to use this app during May-July to possibly record their characteristic high pitched song.

Cicada Hunt
Screenshots of the Cicada Hunt app. Image source: App Store. Retrieved April 8, 2022 from https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/cicada-hunt/id648038025.

AudioMoth

AudioMoth

Audio Moth sensor (close up). Image Source: Open Acoustic Devices [image]. Retrieved March 28, 2022 from https://www.openacousticdevices.info

AudioMoth is an acoustic logger that can sense audible and ultrasonic frequencies (like a moth) and record audio onto a microSD card. AudioMoth devices are used for a range of purposes, including soundscape and individual species monitoring and poaching and logging detection.

Find out more in our radio episode with Alex Rogers.

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