Exploring Underwater Sound

As of August 2009, you can visit the WDCS Wildlife Centre at Spey Bay and explore underwater sounds for yourself.  Using software developed by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and funded in part by the Moray Firth Partnership and Okeanos, our new acoustic exhibit is bringing undewater sound to life!

The exhibit is a technological feast for eyes and ears, displaying sounds, pictures and natural history relating to a wide range of whales and dolphins as well as the environmental and man-made sounds that fill our seas.  While exploring, you can:

• choose from many different sounds to play at varied speeds
• visualise sound waves using colourful spectrograms
• compare the whine of a jetski to the rumble of a tanker
• be amazed at the photos of the animals that you are hearing
• feel the vibrations of blue whale song
• record your own voice
• learn how whales and dolphins use sound
• and much, much more!

Under the surface, the oceans are naturally a very noisy place and marine mammals such as whales and dolphins use sound to communicate, navigate, and find food.  They have very good hearing and are able to sift through background ocean noise to identify a boat approaching or find their next meal.

There are many sources that add to this noisy environment including:
Environmental sounds such as the movement of our shingle beach at Spey Bay and the rushing tides below the centre at North Kessock
Biological sounds created by ocean inhabitants, such as dolphin whistles or passing fish.   
Man-made sounds from rumbling boat engines and fish finders to naval sonar and harbour developments; many of our activities can be heard far and wide under the water.

We can also listen to live sound from the underwater environment at both of our Scottish centres.  Researchers use hydrophones and other underwater devices to listen for dolphins even when we can’t see them (at night, for instance!).  We are also able to understand a little bit more about the overall amount of noise that dolphins might be experiencing throughout their habitat so that we can protect key areas for feeding and resting.

You can get involved…

Come visit our Wildlife Centre and have an underwater acoustic experience Learn how dolphins communicate and imagine what it would be like to echolocate.

Find out more about how noise impacts whales, dolphins and the whole marine environment or join our campaigns to protect the whales and dolphins of Scotland.