Thresholding Dolphin Whistles Based on Signal Correlation and Impulsive Noise Features Under Stationary Wavelet Transform

The time–frequency characteristics of dolphin whistle signals under diverse ecological conditions and during environmental changes are key research topics that focus on the adaptive and response mechanisms of dolphins to the marine environment. To enhance the quality and utilization of passive acous...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Xiang Zhou, Ru Wu, Wen Chen, Meiling Dai, Peibin Zhu, Xiaomei Xu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-02-01
Series:Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/13/2/312
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850082432502464512
author Xiang Zhou
Ru Wu
Wen Chen
Meiling Dai
Peibin Zhu
Xiaomei Xu
author_facet Xiang Zhou
Ru Wu
Wen Chen
Meiling Dai
Peibin Zhu
Xiaomei Xu
author_sort Xiang Zhou
collection DOAJ
description The time–frequency characteristics of dolphin whistle signals under diverse ecological conditions and during environmental changes are key research topics that focus on the adaptive and response mechanisms of dolphins to the marine environment. To enhance the quality and utilization of passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) recorded dolphin whistles, the challenges faced by current wavelet thresholding methods in achieving precise threshold denoising under low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) are confronted. This paper presents a thresholding denoising method based on stationary wavelet transform (SWT), utilizing suppression impulsive and autocorrelation function (SI-ACF) to select precise thresholds. This method introduces a denoising metric <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi>ρ</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula>, based on the correlation of whistle signals, which facilitates precise threshold estimation under low SNR without requiring prior information. Additionally, it exploits the high amplitude and broadband characteristics of impulsive noise, and utilizes the multi-resolution information of the wavelet domain to remove impulsive noise through a multi-level sliding window approach. The SI-ACF method was validated using both simulated and real whistle datasets. Simulated signals were employed to evaluate the method’s denoising performance under three types of typical underwater noise. Real whistles were used to confirm its applicability in real scenarios. The test results show the SI-ACF method effectively eliminates noise, improves whistle signal spectrogram visualization, and enhances the accuracy of automated whistle detection, highlighting its potential for whistle signal preprocessing under low SNR.
format Article
id doaj-art-c9c52b831e484120866e8be9fac6ade8
institution DOAJ
issn 2077-1312
language English
publishDate 2025-02-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
spelling doaj-art-c9c52b831e484120866e8be9fac6ade82025-08-20T02:44:32ZengMDPI AGJournal of Marine Science and Engineering2077-13122025-02-0113231210.3390/jmse13020312Thresholding Dolphin Whistles Based on Signal Correlation and Impulsive Noise Features Under Stationary Wavelet TransformXiang Zhou0Ru Wu1Wen Chen2Meiling Dai3Peibin Zhu4Xiaomei Xu5School of Ocean Information Engineering, Jimei University, Xiamen 361021, ChinaSchool of Ocean Information Engineering, Jimei University, Xiamen 361021, ChinaSchool of Ocean Information Engineering, Jimei University, Xiamen 361021, ChinaSchool of Marxism, Jimei University, Xiamen 361021, ChinaSchool of Ocean Information Engineering, Jimei University, Xiamen 361021, ChinaCollege of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, ChinaThe time–frequency characteristics of dolphin whistle signals under diverse ecological conditions and during environmental changes are key research topics that focus on the adaptive and response mechanisms of dolphins to the marine environment. To enhance the quality and utilization of passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) recorded dolphin whistles, the challenges faced by current wavelet thresholding methods in achieving precise threshold denoising under low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) are confronted. This paper presents a thresholding denoising method based on stationary wavelet transform (SWT), utilizing suppression impulsive and autocorrelation function (SI-ACF) to select precise thresholds. This method introduces a denoising metric <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi>ρ</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula>, based on the correlation of whistle signals, which facilitates precise threshold estimation under low SNR without requiring prior information. Additionally, it exploits the high amplitude and broadband characteristics of impulsive noise, and utilizes the multi-resolution information of the wavelet domain to remove impulsive noise through a multi-level sliding window approach. The SI-ACF method was validated using both simulated and real whistle datasets. Simulated signals were employed to evaluate the method’s denoising performance under three types of typical underwater noise. Real whistles were used to confirm its applicability in real scenarios. The test results show the SI-ACF method effectively eliminates noise, improves whistle signal spectrogram visualization, and enhances the accuracy of automated whistle detection, highlighting its potential for whistle signal preprocessing under low SNR.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/13/2/312dolphin whistlestationary wavelet transformbioacousticsimpulsive noisewavelet thresholdingautocorrelation function
spellingShingle Xiang Zhou
Ru Wu
Wen Chen
Meiling Dai
Peibin Zhu
Xiaomei Xu
Thresholding Dolphin Whistles Based on Signal Correlation and Impulsive Noise Features Under Stationary Wavelet Transform
Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
dolphin whistle
stationary wavelet transform
bioacoustics
impulsive noise
wavelet thresholding
autocorrelation function
title Thresholding Dolphin Whistles Based on Signal Correlation and Impulsive Noise Features Under Stationary Wavelet Transform
title_full Thresholding Dolphin Whistles Based on Signal Correlation and Impulsive Noise Features Under Stationary Wavelet Transform
title_fullStr Thresholding Dolphin Whistles Based on Signal Correlation and Impulsive Noise Features Under Stationary Wavelet Transform
title_full_unstemmed Thresholding Dolphin Whistles Based on Signal Correlation and Impulsive Noise Features Under Stationary Wavelet Transform
title_short Thresholding Dolphin Whistles Based on Signal Correlation and Impulsive Noise Features Under Stationary Wavelet Transform
title_sort thresholding dolphin whistles based on signal correlation and impulsive noise features under stationary wavelet transform
topic dolphin whistle
stationary wavelet transform
bioacoustics
impulsive noise
wavelet thresholding
autocorrelation function
url https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/13/2/312
work_keys_str_mv AT xiangzhou thresholdingdolphinwhistlesbasedonsignalcorrelationandimpulsivenoisefeaturesunderstationarywavelettransform
AT ruwu thresholdingdolphinwhistlesbasedonsignalcorrelationandimpulsivenoisefeaturesunderstationarywavelettransform
AT wenchen thresholdingdolphinwhistlesbasedonsignalcorrelationandimpulsivenoisefeaturesunderstationarywavelettransform
AT meilingdai thresholdingdolphinwhistlesbasedonsignalcorrelationandimpulsivenoisefeaturesunderstationarywavelettransform
AT peibinzhu thresholdingdolphinwhistlesbasedonsignalcorrelationandimpulsivenoisefeaturesunderstationarywavelettransform
AT xiaomeixu thresholdingdolphinwhistlesbasedonsignalcorrelationandimpulsivenoisefeaturesunderstationarywavelettransform