Using active echo cancellation to minimize stimulus reverberations during hearing studies conducted with the auditory brain response (ABR) technique
ABSTRACT
Because of the physical properties of water as sound conducting medium and the proximity of tank walls, creating an anechoic environment underwater is both technically difficult and expensive to implement. Conducting hearing studies of aquatic animals can therefore be challenging due to stimulus reverberations. To address this issue, we developed MATLAB scripts capable of pre-compensating acoustic stimuli resulting in location-specific echo cancellation. Our procedures are specifically designed for hearing studies conducted with the auditory brain response (ABR) technique. Broadband white noise is used to characterize the system response and the digitized acoustic signal subsequently used to generate an acoustic inverse file capable of cancelling reverberations. Echo cancellation is nearly perfect, although location-specific. The effectiveness of echo cancellation diminishes with distance from test subject and hydrophone (or microphone) used to create the pre-compensated signal. This distance must be minimized and should preferably be less than 5 cm. The spectral composition of the sound signal is not greatly affected, however. We have successfully used the procedure during hearing studies of several fish species, including yello- wfin tuna (set in italics). ABR experiments on the latter were done at sea aboard an oceanographic research vessel, a highly echoic environment.
Because of the physical properties of water as sound conducting medium and the proximity of tank walls, creating an anechoic environment underwater is both technically difficult and expensive to implement. Conducting hearing studies of aquatic animals can therefore be challenging due to stimulus reverberations. To address this issue, we developed MATLAB scripts capable of pre-compensating acoustic stimuli resulting in location-specific echo cancellation. Our procedures are specifically designed for hearing studies conducted with the auditory brain response (ABR) technique. Broadband white noise is used to characterize the system response and the digitized acoustic signal subsequently used to generate an acoustic inverse file capable of cancelling reverberations. Echo cancellation is nearly perfect, although location-specific. The effectiveness of echo cancellation diminishes with distance from test subject and hydrophone (or microphone) used to create the pre-compensated signal. This distance must be minimized and should preferably be less than 5 cm. The spectral composition of the sound signal is not greatly affected, however. We have successfully used the procedure during hearing studies of several fish species, including yello- wfin tuna (set in italics). ABR experiments on the latter were done at sea aboard an oceanographic research vessel, a highly echoic environment.
Cite this paper
nullPatterson, M. , Horodysky, A. , Deffenbaugh, B. and Brill, R. (2010) Using active echo cancellation to minimize stimulus reverberations during hearing studies conducted with the auditory brain response (ABR) technique. Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering, 3, 861-867. doi: 10.4236/jbise.2010.39116.
nullPatterson, M. , Horodysky, A. , Deffenbaugh, B. and Brill, R. (2010) Using active echo cancellation to minimize stimulus reverberations during hearing studies conducted with the auditory brain response (ABR) technique. Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering, 3, 861-867. doi: 10.4236/jbise.2010.39116.
References
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[1] Schuchmann, M., Hübner, M. and Wiegrebe, L. (2006) The absence of spatial echo suppression in echolocating bats. Megaderma lyra and Phyllostomus discolor. Journal of Experimental Biology, 209, 152-157. [2] Parvulescu, A. (1966) Acoustics of small tanks. Marine Bioacoustics: Proceedings of the Second Symposium on Marine Bio-Acoustics Held at the American Museum of Natural History, New York 13-15 April, 1966, 7-13. [3] Bj?rn?, L. and Kjeldgaard, M. (1975) A wide frequency band anechoic water tank. Acustica, 32, 103-109. [4] Darner, C. (1954) An anechoic tank for underwater sou- nd measurements under high hydrostatic pressure. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 26, 221-222. [5] Edwards, B. and Nedwell, J.R. (1992) A low frequency underwater anechoic for laboratory applications. European Conference on Underwater Acoustics, Elsevier Applied Science, New York, 60-63. [6] Zhang, J.M. Chang, W., Varadan, V.K. and Varadan, V.V. (2001) Passive underwater acoustic damping using shunted piezoelectric coatings. Smart Materials and Str- uctures, 10, 414-420. [7] Varadan, V.K., Howarth, T.R., Bao, X.-Q. and Varadan, V.V. (1990) Active underwater acoustic damping coating. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America Suppl- ement, 87(S1), S146. [8] Biju, P., Abraham, J.K., Varadan, V.K., Natarajan, V. and Jayakumari, V.G. (2004) Passive underwater acoustic damping materials with Rho-C rubber–carbon fiber and molecular sieves. Smart Materials and Structures, 13, N99-N104. [9] Prout, J. (1986) Garfield Thomas Water Tunnel (GTWT) flow-through anechoic chamber design, Technical Mem- orandum, Pennsylvania State University Applied Resear- ch Laboratory, National Technical Information Service, USA. [10] Carlson, T.J. and Popper, A.N. (1997) Using sound to modify fish behavior at power-production and water- control facilities: A workshop, (December 12-13) 1995 Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, Phase II: Final Report, Report to Bonneville Power Administration, Contract No. 1986BP62611, BPA Report DOE/BP- 62611-11, Project No. 19920710. [11] Lovell, J.M., Moate, R.M. Christiansen, L. and Findlay, M.M. (2006) The relationship between body size and evoked potentials from the statocysts of the prawn. Palaemon serratus. Journal of Experimental Biology, 209 (13), 2480-2485. [12] Mensinger, A.F. and Deffenbaugh, M. (2000) Anechoic aquarium for ultrasonic neural telemetry. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, 355 (1401), 1305-1308. [13] Horodysky, A.Z., Brill, R.W., Fine, M.L., Musick, J.A. and Latour, R.J. (2008) Acoustic pressure and particle motion thresholds in six sciaenid fishes. Journal of Exp- erimental Biology, 211(9), 1504-1511. [14] Scholik, A.R. and Yan, H.Y. (2001) Effects of underwater noise on auditory sensitivity of cyprinid fish. Hearing Research, 152(1), 17-24. [15] Vasconcelos, R.O., Amorim, M.C.P. and Ladich, F. (2007) Effects of ship noise on the delectability of communication signals in the Lusitanian toadfish. Journal of Experimental Biology, 210(12), 2104-2112. [16] Wahlberg, M. and Westerberg, H. (2005) Hearing in fish and their reaction to sounds from offshore wind farms. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 288, 295-309. [17] Widrow, B. and Hoff, M. (1960) Adaptive switching circuits. Western Electronic Show and Convention, Institute of Radio Engineers, 4, 96-104. [18] Kuech, F. and Kellermann, W. (2006) Orthogonalized power filters for nonlinear acoustic echo cancellation. Signal Processing, 86(6), 1168-1181. [19] Nachtigall, P.E., Au, W.W.L., Roitblat, H.L. and Pa- wloski, J.L. (2000). Dolphin biosonar: A model for biomimetic sonars. Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Aqua Bio-Mechanisms, 115-121. [20] Kenyon, T.N., Ladich, F. and Yan, H.Y. (1998) A comparative study of hearing ability in fishes: the auditory brainstem response approach. Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 182, 307-318. [21] Silman, S. and Silverman, C.A. (1991) Auditory diagnosis: Principles and applications. Academic Press, San Di- ego, California. [22] Yan, H.Y., Fine, M.L., Horn, N.S. and Colón, W.E. (2000) Variability in the role of the gasbladder in fish audition. Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 186(5), 435-445. [23] Ramcharitar, J.U., Higgs, D.M., and Popper, A.N. (2006) Audition in sciaenid fishes with different swim bladderinner ear configurations. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 119, 439-443.