Acoustical Meeting, Nov. 10-14, 2008 in Miami, Florida

November 5, 2008 -- Underwater wi-fi, music over the internet, pitch perception in the brain, discovering how whales find their favorite salmon, detecting dangerous swimmers, helping people who have undergone laryngectomy, rhythm and movement disorders, visualizing the sound of musical instruments, and finding a possible way to save manatees from collisions with boats.

These are a few of the topics that will be covered at the 156th meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) next month in Miami, FL. Convening at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Miami, acoustical scientists and engineers will present some 660 talks and posters related to acoustics, a cross-section of diverse disciplines devoted to architecture, underwater research, psychology, physics, animal bioacoustics, medicine, music, noise control, and speech.

Journalists are invited to cover the upcoming meeting either onsite in Miami or online through the meeting's World Wide Press Room. Registration instructions, contacts for reporters, and more information can be found at the end of this release.

HIGHLIGHTS OF 156th ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY MEETING:
1) Killer Whales Picky about their Salmon
2) Giving a New Voice to Laryngectomy Patients
3) Underwater Wi-Fi
4) Musicians Hear More Particularly
5) Saving Manatees from Boat Collisions
6) Microbubbles May be Key to Drug Delivery in the Brain
7) Detecting a Human Swimmer
8) Visualizing Vibrations in Musical Instruments
9) Understanding Rhythm may Help People with Movement Disorders
10) Virtual Harmony: Synchronizing Music Over the Net
11) Bug Surveillance Reveals Moths' Stealthy Secrets
12) Laptop Music
13) Communicating Through Walls
14) Understanding Pitch Perception May Enhance Learning

1) KILLER WHALES PICKY ABOUT THEIR SALMON

Killer whales swimming the waters off British Columbia and Washington State are known for their predilection for Chinook salmon, even in the months when the Chinook make up just 10 to 15 percent of the salmon swimming in the waters. How is it that the killer whales, with males weighing up to 12,000 pounds, can sort through the schools of salmon and find the Chinook swimming among the Coho and Sockeye salmon?

That question intrigued bioacoustician Whitlow Au, of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, Kailua, and colleagues John Horne and Christopher Jones, of the University of Washington, Seattle. The discriminating taste of the killer whales suggested that the marine mammals were using echolocation to select their dinner, and the scientists wanted to determine why a Chinook sounds different than a Coho or Sockeye. Au's team used simulated killer whale echolocation signals and the measured the structure of the echoes as they bounced back from the three salmon species.

The results indicate that "the echo structure from similar sized but different species of salmon were different and probably recognizable by foraging killer whales." Au said that the radiographic images of the echoes show differences in the "swimbladder shape and volume" in the different species, and the whales can use that to pick the fish they like. The results, Au said, suggest that an echo-sounder could be developed that, when pointed down into the water, could be used to discriminate among salmon species.