Bioacoustics Data Analysis (BIAC06)
Analyse animal acoustic signals in R. Learn spectrograms, annotations, and bioacoustic workflows.
Duration: 5 Days, 4 hours per day
Next Date: October 19-23, 2026
Format: Live Online Format
UK (GMT+1) local time - All sessions will be recorded and made available to ensure accessibility for attendees across different time zones.
£400Registration Fee
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- Overview
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Course Description
The study of animal acoustic signals is a central tool for many fields in behaviour, ecology, evolution and biodiversity monitoring. The accessibility of recording equipment and growing availability of open-access acoustic libraries provide an unprecedented opportunity to study animal acoustic signals at large temporal, geographic and taxonomic scales. However, the diversity of analytical methods and the multidimensionality of these signals posts significant challenges to conduct analyses that can quantify biologically meaningful variation. The recent development of acoustic analysis tools in the R programming environment provides a powerful means for overcoming these challenges, facilitating the gathering and organization of large acoustic data sets and the use of more elaborated analyses that better fit the studied acoustic signals and associated biological questions. The course will introduce students on the basic concepts in animal acoustic signal research as well as hands-on experience on analytical tools in R.
What You’ll Learn
During the course we will cover the following:
- Understand the basic concepts of bioacoustics and how animal acoustic signals are analysed.
- Gain proficiency in handling and manipulating acoustic data in R, including working with ‘wave’ objects and other audio formats.
- Develop skills in building and interpreting spectrograms using Fourier transform techniques and the seewave package in R.
- Import Raven Pro annotations into R and refine these annotations with warbleR functions.
- Understand how to quantify the structure of acoustic signals through various approaches.
- Gain experience in quality control of recordings and annotations, ensuring data integrity and accuracy.
- Compare different methods for quantifying acoustic signal structure and understand the implications of each approach.
Course Format
Interactive Learning Format
Each day features a well-balanced combination of lectures and hands-on practical exercises, with dedicated time for discussing participants’ own data, time permitting.
Global Accessibility
All live sessions are recorded and made available on the same day, ensuring accessibility for participants across different time zones.
Collaborative Discussions
Open discussion sessions provide an opportunity for participants to explore specific research questions and engage with instructors and peers.
Comprehensive Course Materials
All code, datasets, and presentation slides used during the course will be shared with participants by the instructor.
Personalized Data Engagement
Participants are encouraged to bring their own data for discussion and practical application during the course.
Post-Course Support
Participants will receive continued support via email for 30 days following the course, along with on-demand access to session recordings for the same period.
Who Should Attend / Intended Audiences
This course is designed for academics, postgraduate students, applied researchers, and professionals working in bioacoustics, ecology, animal behaviour, or related fields. It is also suitable for R users looking to apply their skills to acoustic data analysis, as well as wildlife biologists, conservationists, and data scientists interested in using bioacoustic methods for monitoring and research. Participants should have a basic understanding of statistical concepts—such as generalized linear models, hypothesis testing, and statistical significance—and be comfortable using R for data import/export, data manipulation, basic modeling, and plotting.
Equipment and Software requirements
A laptop or desktop computer with a functioning installation of R and RStudio is required. Both R and RStudio are free, open-source programs compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux systems.
A working webcam is recommended to support interactive elements of the course. We encourage participants to keep their cameras on during live Zoom sessions to foster a more engaging and collaborative environment.
While not essential, using a large monitor—or ideally a dual-monitor setup—can significantly enhance your learning experience by allowing you to view course materials and work in R simultaneously.
All necessary R packages will be introduced and installed during the workshop. A comprehensive list of required packages will also be shared with participants ahead of the course to allow for optional pre-installation.
Dr. Marcelo Araya-Salas
Marcelo is a behavioural ecologist and scientific programmer whose work bridges evolutionary biology, bioacoustics, and computational analysis. His research investigates the evolution of animal behaviour, particularly acoustic communication in neotropical species, across both cultural and evolutionary timescales. He combines single-species behavioural observations, comparative phylogenetic methods, and high-throughput data analysis to explore how animal communication systems evolve and adapt.
Marcelo is also a developer of several widely used R packages for bioacoustics research, including warbleR, Rraven, and baRulho, which support the manipulation, measurement, and quality assessment of annotated sound data. His work promotes reproducible, flexible, and scalable approaches to analyzing acoustic signals in animal behavior studies.
Education & Career
• Researcher, Neuroscience Research Center, Universidad de Costa Rica
• Developer of open-source R tools for bioacoustic data analysis
• Active contributor to interdisciplinary collaborations in behavioral ecology and bioacoustics
Research Focus
Marcelo’s research centers on understanding the mechanisms and evolutionary drivers of animal communication. He is particularly interested in how vocal signals change over time and space, and how these changes relate to species’ ecology, behavior, and phylogenetic history.
Current Projects
• Comparative analysis of acoustic signal structure across neotropical bird species
• Development of analytical workflows for large-scale acoustic datasets
• Investigating cultural evolution in animal vocalizations through long-term field recordings
Software & Tools
• warbleR – Streamlining bioacoustic analysis in R
• Rraven – Integrating R with Raven Pro for acoustic annotation
• baRulho – Assessing signal degradation and structure in environmental recordings
Teaching & Skills
• Instructor in scientific programming, acoustic analysis, and data visualization in R
• Promotes reproducibility and open-source software in behavioral ecology
• Experienced in both ecological fieldwork and computational research
Links
• ResearchGate
• Google Scholar
• Work Homepage
• Personal Homepage
Session 1 – 02:00:00 – Introduction
What animal acoustic signals look like?
Analytical workflow in bioacoustics research
Advantages of programming
Session 2 – 02:00:00 – What is sound?
Sound as a time series
Sound as a digital object
Acoustic data in R
‘wave’ object structure
‘wave’ object manipulations
Additional formats
Overview of other audio file formats (e.g., MP3, FLAC) and how they can be converted and used in R for bioacoustic analysis.
Session 3- 02:00:00 – Building spectrograms
Fourier transform
Building a spectrogram (characteristics and limitations)
Step-by-step guide on how to construct spectrograms, including parameter selection (e.g.,
window size, overlap) and interpretation of the resulting visual representations.
Session 4- 02:00:00 – Spectrograms in R
Practical session on generating and customizing spectrograms in R using the seewave package. Participants will create spectrograms from their own data. Using the package seewave we will explore, modify and measure ‘wave’ objects This includes exercises on filtering, re-sampling, and extracting acoustic features and will include spectrograms & oscillograms, filtering & re-sampling and acoustic measurements. We will use the seewave package to perform detailed acoustic measurements, such as peak frequency, dominant frequency, and frequency range. Practical examples will be provided.
Session 5- 02:00:00 – Annotations
This session introduces the Raven Pro interface and its key features. Participants will learn how to navigate the software, make selections within sound files, and perform basic measurements such as duration and frequency. The session also covers saving, retrieving, and exporting selection tables, along with best practices for data organization. Finally, participants will explore annotation techniques, including the use of labels and notes to mark significant events in acoustic recordings.
Session 6 – 02:00:00 – Quantifying Acoustic Signal Structure
This session focuses on methods for extracting and analyzing the structural characteristics of acoustic signals using R. Participants will be introduced to the spectro-analysis() function for generating spectro-temporal measurements and describing signals in terms of duration, frequency, and amplitude. The session covers analysis of harmonic content and introduces Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) using mfcc_stats() to assess timbral features.
Additional tools such as cross_correlation() and freq_DTW() will be used to compare signals through cross-correlation and dynamic time warping techniques. Participants will also learn to calculate signal-to-noise ratios with sig2noise() and identify pitch inflections using inflections(). The session concludes with song_analysis() to examine acoustic patterns at higher hierarchical levels, such as entire songs or vocal sequences.
Session 7- 04:00:00 – Annotations
This session covers essential quality control techniques for managing annotated acoustic data. Participants will learn how to compile catalogs of annotated sound files for reference or analysis, and use functions such as check_wavs(), info_wavs(), and fix_wavs() to verify and correct sound file formats and integrity. Tools like mp32wav() enable audio format conversion as part of preprocessing workflows.
The session also includes tuning spectrogram parameters using tweak_spectro() to improve signal visualization, and verifying annotation accuracy through tools like check_sels() and catalog(). Participants will practice refining annotations with tailor_sels() and learn how to build and interpret higher-level spectrograms representing full vocal sequences using full_spectrograms() and spectrograms(). Finally, the song_analysis() function will be used to quantify song-level parameters such as duration, element count, and rate.
Session 8 – 04:00:00 – Choosing the Right Method for Quantifying Structure
This session focuses on evaluating and selecting appropriate methods for quantifying the structure of acoustic signals. Participants will use the compare methods() function to assess different analytical approaches and understand their respective strengths and limitations. The session introduces the concept of acoustic spaces through the PhenotypeSpace framework, enabling the visualization and comparison of vocal diversity across datasets.
Participants will explore techniques for measuring the size of acoustic spaces to assess variability and complexity, and learn how to compare subspaces to analyse differences between species, populations, or other groups. Each topic is supported with clear explanations, practical examples, and hands-on exercises to build proficiency in applying these tools within the R environment for bioacoustics research.
Testimonials
PRStats offers a great lineup of courses on statistical and analytical methods that are super relevant for ecologists and biologists. My lab and I have taken several of their courses—like Bayesian mixing models, time series analysis, and machine/deep learning—and we've found them very informative and directly useful for our work. I often recommend PRStats to my students and colleagues as a great way to brush up on or learn new R-based statistical skills.
Rolando O. Santos
PhD Assistant Professor, Florida International University
Courses attended
SIMM05, IMDL03, ITSA02, GEEE01 and MOVE07
Testimonials
PRStats offers a great lineup of courses on statistical and analytical methods that are super relevant for ecologists and biologists. My lab and I have taken several of their courses—like Bayesian mixing models, time series analysis, and machine/deep learning—and we've found them very informative and directly useful for our work. I often recommend PRStats to my students and colleagues as a great way to brush up on or learn new R-based statistical skills.
Rolando O. Santos
PhD Assistant Professor, Florida International University
Courses attended
SIMM05, IMDL03, ITSA02, GEEE01 and MOVE07
Testimonials
PRStats offers a great lineup of courses on statistical and analytical methods that are super relevant for ecologists and biologists. My lab and I have taken several of their courses—like Bayesian mixing models, time series analysis, and machine/deep learning—and we've found them very informative and directly useful for our work. I often recommend PRStats to my students and colleagues as a great way to brush up on or learn new R-based statistical skills.
Rolando O. Santos
PhD Assistant Professor, Florida International University
Courses attended
SIMM05, IMDL03, ITSA02, GEEE01 and MOVE07
Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know about the product and billing.
When will I receive instructions on how to join?
You’ll receive an email on the Friday before the course begins, with full instructions on how to join via Zoom. Please ensure you have Zoom installed in advance.
Do I need administrator rights on my computer?
I’m attending the course live — will I also get access to the session recordings?
I can’t attend every live session — can I join some sessions live and catch up on others later?
I’m in a different time zone and plan to follow the course via recordings. When will these be available?
I can’t attend live — how can I ask questions?
Will I receive a certificate?
When will I receive instructions on how to join?
You’ll receive an email on the Friday before the course begins, with full instructions on how to join via Zoom. Please ensure you have Zoom installed in advance.
Do I need administrator rights on my computer?
I’m attending the course live — will I also get access to the session recordings?
I can’t attend every live session — can I join some sessions live and catch up on others later?
I’m in a different time zone and plan to follow the course via recordings. When will these be available?
I can’t attend live — how can I ask questions?
Will I receive a certificate?
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