Soundbites is a (hopefully) weekly feature of the coolest, newest bioacoustics, soundscape, and acoustic research, in bite-size form. Plus other cool stuff having to do with sound.

Frogs change calling time in response to traffic noise: species with high peak frequency didn’t care about traffic noise, but species with low peak frequency optimized their calling to fall in lulls of traffic noise to avoid masking.

Researchers need to consider the costs of response to anthropogenic noise as well as benefits: we tend to focus only on the benefits of changing vocalizations in response to noise, but costs like increased predation risk, reduced transmission distance, and information loss need to be considered to get a balanced picture of trade-offs.

Fun link of the week: NPR looks at the technology and design behind the latest Godzilla’s roar (which in the past was done with a resin-coated leather glove against a double bass). With the emphasis on sounds recorded at higher frequencies, my guess is they got some high-pitched animal sound in there and slowed it down… thoughts?