An optical telemetry device to identify which dolphin produces a sound.
A small telemetry device, called a "vocalight," was designed for attachment to a dolphin's head using a suction cup. The vocalight lights up a variable number of light-emitting diodes depending upon the loudness of sounds received at a hydrophone within the suction cup. If vocalights matched for sensitivity are put on each dolphin within a captive group, observers can identify which dolphin produces a vocalization. Use of vocalights indicates that source levels of whistles from captive bottlenosed dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, range from approximately 125 to over 140 dB re: 1 microPa at 1 m.
D000818:Animals; D004289:Dolphins / Q000502:physiology*; D055095:Optics and Photonics / Q000295:instrumentation; D013686:Telemetry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014828:Vocalization, Animal