Solutions / Ocean acoustics

Visualizing marine ecosystems and the environment with sound

You can't see into the sea. That's exactly why sound is the clue. We classify underwater sound to make marine ecosystems, the environment, and human activity visible.

The challenge: the sea is unseen, so it's hard to measure.

Marine development and conservation require assessing underwater noise, understanding species distribution, and monitoring ecosystem state. But the sea is dark and often turbid — sight and video alone cannot continuously cover wide areas.

Underwater sound has traditionally been observed with moored recorders fixed at a single point and recovered later. That makes multi-point, wide-area, near-real-time coverage difficult, and the data takes time to analyze.

The answer: classify the sound, visualize the sea.

We classify recorded sound on-device with AI (deep learning) into biophony, geophony, anthrophony, and more, and handle it together with location and depth. By sending classification results rather than raw audio, we achieve acoustic monitoring that doesn't depend on fixed infrastructure.

We combine animal-borne, moored, and product-based (LoggLaw CAM) approaches as needed, and visualize results as soundscape maps on a dedicated portal built on Animal Portal — turning them into data you can use for assessment and conservation decisions.

The sound → classify (AI) → visualize pipeline

01 · Capture

Pick up underwater sound with a hydrophone

Animal-borne loggers, moored recorders, and the hydrophone-equipped LoggLaw CAM record sound in the field.

02 · Classify (AI)

Identify sound sources with edge AI

Deep learning classifies sound into biophony, geophony, and anthrophony. Working with classification results rather than raw audio enables wide-area, near-real-time observation.

03 · Visualize

Map the state of the sea from sound

Classification results, location, and depth are integrated on a dedicated portal built on Animal Portal and visualized as soundscape maps — turned into a form you can decide with.

Getting started in three steps

You can begin at whichever step matches the question you have now, then combine steps flexibly and expand in phases as the work matures.

  1. Offline analysisSTEP 1
    Initial survey

    Offline analysis

    Your question

    “Is a rare species present in this sea area?”

    We analyze existing recordings with AI. As an entry-level survey with no real-time requirement, it establishes the state of the sea area first — and because it reuses data you already have, it's a low-cost way to start.

  2. Mobile biologgingSTEP 2
    Finding where to look

    Mobile biologging

    Your question

    “Where should we place a buoy?” “We want to discover unknown habitats.”

    We observe sound at the places that matter from the animal's point of view. Animal-borne loggers explore waters fixed infrastructure can't reach and reveal where stationary observation should go.

  3. Fixed buoySTEP 3
    Continuous monitoring

    Fixed buoy

    Your question

    “We want to monitor a confirmed rare species continuously.” (policy, fisheries control)

    We run long-term stationary observation with real-time classification — feeding directly into operations that assume continuous monitoring, such as dynamic fishing-restriction areas (Dynamic MPA) and policy coordination.

Pick only the steps you need and scale up in phases, according to your budget and timeline.

After deployment we continue to provide data analysis, report delivery, and real-time alerts as an ongoing service.

Use cases by area

Acoustic monitoring answers distinct challenges across industry, government, and research.

Offshore wind & ports — assessment / monitoring

Offshore wind & ports — assessment / monitoring

Challenge

Offshore wind construction and operation and port development require assessing underwater noise and impacts on marine life. A single moored recorder makes wide-area, multi-point, near-real-time coverage difficult.

Approach

Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) continuously observes underwater noise and animal vocalizations during construction and operation. We map the acoustic environment to provide evidence for assessment and adaptive management.

Fisheries & aquaculture

Fisheries & aquaculture

Challenge

Fishing-ground conditions and the distribution and behavior of target species are hard to capture by sight alone, and aquaculture sites need continuous environmental data.

Approach

We extract cues about the presence, activity, and environmental change of target species from biological and ambient sound, reinforcing stock, fishing-ground, and aquaculture assessments with acoustic data.

Biodiversity · TNFD · blue carbon

Biodiversity · TNFD · blue carbon

Challenge

Companies and municipalities face demands to disclose marine natural capital and biodiversity (TNFD) and to measure the impact of blue-carbon initiatives such as seagrass and tidal flats — yet means to quantify underwater conditions are scarce.

Approach

Soundscape indicators make ecosystem richness and change visible, producing quantitative data usable for TNFD disclosure and for verifying blue-carbon and seagrass-restoration outcomes.

Research & conservation

Research & conservation

Challenge

Managing marine protected areas (MPAs) and conserving rare species depends on long-term data on species presence and the sound environment, but installing and recovering fixed infrastructure is costly.

Approach

We design and run acoustic observation with both animal-borne and moored systems, supporting rare-species detection and MPA status assessment with our first-party engineering as a device manufacturer.

Impact in the field (from the sea-turtle trial in Thailand)

Our phase-1 trial in Thailand went beyond research results to create ripple effects in the local community.

Views of the video
2.85M+Views of the videoThe release became a local talking point and was viewed over 2.85 million times on social media.
Merchandise by a local NPO
T-shirtsMerchandise by a local NPOA local NPO produced commemorative T-shirts, with all proceeds donated to environmental conservation.
Environmental education for kids
Picture bookEnvironmental education for kidsThe work was adapted into a children's picture book, carrying environmental education to the next generation.

Images: from local partners' and NPOs' posts (Facebook).

What this solution is built on

Research, production hardware, and a visualization platform — together. Our founders are active researchers and authors of the underlying paper.

World-first soundscape logger (Scientific Reports 2024)A peer-reviewed demonstration of classifying underwater sound with edge AI and transmitting on surfacing — the technical foundation of this solution.LoggLaw CAM — underwater video logger with hydrophoneA production unit that records video and sound in sync — field hardware for marine observation including acoustics.Animal Portal — visualization platformA cloud platform that integrates and visualizes location and sensor data on a map.BiP — analysis & sharing platformA researcher-oriented cloud that unifies backup, analysis, and publication of biologging data.

Talk to us about joint research & commissioned monitoring

From PoC to commissioned work, we partner with you for your sea area and goals. This is a dedicated channel, separate from product inquiries.

Joint research & proof of concept (PoC)

We're looking for partners to develop and validate observation methods together, designing PoC plans for your sea area and objectives.

Start a conversation

Commissioned monitoring / data acquisition

We take on acoustic monitoring and data acquisition for environmental assessment and impact measurement, scoped to your sea area, period, and indicators.

Start a conversation