Underwater noise impact assessment and the hearing response of marine animals*
Granger Bennett A and Jim McLoughlin BA SVT Engineering Consultants, 112 Cambridge Street West Leederville WA 6007. Email: Granger.Bennett@svt.com.au
B SVT Engineering Consultants, 112 Cambridge Street West Leederville WA 6007. Email: Jim.McLoughlin@svt.com.au
The APPEA Journal 50(2) 741-741 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ09105
Published: 2010
Abstract
The ability of a marine animal to hear anthropogenic (man-made) sound underwater is affected by the animal’s auditory bandwidth and its sensitivity to sound of different frequencies within that bandwidth. Auditory bandwidths for marine animals vary from species to species and may or may not coincide with, or overlap, human auditory bandwidths. For example, turtles are not able to hear some sounds that are clearly audible to humans, while dolphins can hear sounds that are beyond the range of human hearing. Therefore, underwater noise impacts assessments for marine animals need to take into account both the spectral content of the anthropogenic noise and the auditory bandwidths of the various species under consideration. This paper demonstrates how the auditory bandwidth and sensitivity of marine animals to sounds of different frequencies can affect the outcomes of impact assessments. The analysis is supported by results from underwater noise modelling and noise measurements.
Keywords: anthropogenic, bandwidths, fish, hearing threshold, mammal, marine environment, noise, pile driving, seismic survey, sound, turtles, underwater, underwater noise, underwater noise impact
At present Granger Bennett works as a principal engineer for SVT Engineering Consultants. Granger holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering from the University of Stellenbosch, and two Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering and Engineering Acoustics from NPS in the US. He has fifteen years’ experience in systems engineering and acoustical engineering mostly in the military environment. Granger’s specialist competency areas include underwater acoustics, noise and vibration assessment and analysis, noise control, environmental acoustics, sound intensity analysis, systems design, development and testing, project management and engineering change management. He lives in Perth, Western Australia with his wife and three children. |
Jim McLoughlin has worked in the field of acoustics for 23 years. He began his career as a research assistant in the acoustics department at the University of Salford in England after graduating with an honours degree in electroacoustics. Jim remained at Salford University for 10 years where he was responsible for the management of a commercial acoustics test facility. In 1996 Jim migrated to Perth where he found employment with SVT Engineering Consultants, a company specialised in noise, vibration and corrosion. Jim is currently the business unit leader for acoustics at SVT and specializes in both environmental and occupational noise. |
References
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