Methods of Detection and Analysis

Abstract

The first item in any set of acoustic instruments is a microphone. This acts as a transducer, that is it converts the sound waves impinging on it into electrical waves that can then be examined in a number of ways by electronic instruments. Broadly, three different sets of electronic equipment have been used for studying animal ultrasounds: the oscilloscope, the tape-recorder and the ultrasound detector or ‘bat detector’. These different instruments will be reviewed in turn.