title: Understanding the structure of humpback whale songs (L).
abstract: Structured sound sequences produced by humpback whales are described in the literature as hierarchically organized songs. Despite the prevalence of such descriptions, there is no direct evidence that humpback songs are hierarchically structured. It is suggested here that songs may instead be heterarchically structured, in which case traditional approaches to analyzing songs may obscure their organizational and acoustical features. An alternative framework for characterizing patterns within songs is presented, derived from models of humpback whale sound production, that characterizes rhythmic and sequential regularities in the sound sequences produced by singing whales in terms of interacting cycles of breathing and internal air recirculation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA. emiii@buffalo.edu
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mercado
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Handel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D050640:Humpback Whale / Q000502:physiology*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated; D012119:Respiration; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D063346:Singing; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013997:Time Factors