Thoughts

Vision without action is daydream.

Action without vision is nightmare.

Japanese proverb

Dolphin Echolocation

Hyperboloid Coincident Acoustic Model by Jack Kassewitz and Mark Weber

The bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, has had its dual phonation device(s) described extensively in the literature: it offers both binaural receiving and biphonic (or bivocal) transmitting capabilities. The following model, Photograph 2, is based upon my recording and analyzing their sounds and a bit of a hunch what takes place when you have an outgoing multiple source signal that has coincident wave behavior increasing amplitude arithmetically. A research paper will be forthcoming regarding this new model for echolocation.

Volunteer with a marine mammal stranding network!

Participate in environmental projects and activities to help restore healthy ecosystems on land and in the ocean such as Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Clean up Day.

Participate in our Clean Ocean Dolphin Poster Project.

Always be mindful of your trash -- never litter!

Volunteer at a marine mammal rescue organization! There are many such rescue organizations around the world and most of them depend on volunteers to help care for injured and stranded marine mammals. When a stranding happens, countless volunteers are needed around the clock to help the animal survive. People are needed to do everything from the mundane to the intense such as making phone calls and keeping the rescue site clean, to preparing food and medicine for the animal, as well as supporting the injured animal in the water. Many rescue organizations offer free training classes so that volunteers are well prepared when a stranding occurs and the team needs to spring into action. Also, by volunteering with a rescue organization, you will eventually have hands-on personal interaction with amazing marine mammals -- often these are animals that you would normally never have the opportunity to meet. And you will be making a direct contribution to that animal's well being. We have been blessed to know rough-tooth dolphins, pilot whales, and pygmy sperm whales in this way. And even if these animals do not survive, you have the peace of mind that they were able to die in loving arms.

Donate to our dolphin communication research so that dolphins and whales will have a scientifically-undeniable voice in the world!

Our Goals

We are working towards this goal by using cutting-edge technology to:

• Develop new systems to explore cetacean cognition and acoustic abilities, and create a language interface.
• Record cetacean sounds both above and below water in the broadest spectrum ever achieved.
• Analyze these cetacean sounds for harmonic patterns and communication value.
• Use these analyzed sounds to play specific musical phrases and tones underwater -- back to the cetaceans -- while recording their contemporaneous responses.
• Publish and share this research in scientific journals.
• Assist in establishing new standards in the scientific grade recording and processing of marine mammal acoustics.
• Play cooperative games with cetaceans in order to expand our understanding of interspecies alliances and non-verbal communication.
• Produce and distribute music created in partnership with these cetacean recordings for integration into human consciousness.
• Utilize dolphins to inspire humanity towards greater stewardship of our oceans.

How do we do it?

A Novel Technique for Decoding Cetacean Language

This breakthrough technique involves making dolphin and whale sounds visible in water, possibly mimicking the very mechanisms that nature evolved in the cetaceans' own sound-receiving apparatus. Using a newly developed instrument, the CymaScope, a team led by Jack Kassewitz in the USA and John Stuart Reid in the UK aim to build a lexicon of cetacean words, each word having a specific meaning and each forming a recognizable pattern, known as a CymaGlyph.  

This novel technique is at an early stage of development but there are already signs that it is exactly what researchers have been looking for as a means of exploring cetacean language. Dolphin and whale sounds are complex and conventional sound analyzers (that provide graphical representations) have not proven to be particularly helpful. Instead of providing a graph of a particular cetacean sound, the CymaScope imprints each sound on the surface of water, rather like a fingerprint on glass. Each cetacean sound forms micro disturbances in the surface of the water that can be captured by a digital camera, creating a 'glyph' that may resemble what the dolphin or whale actually sees and recognizes in its audio and visual cortices. 

Dolphin Glyphs

When Europeans first traveled to Egypt, the hieroglyphic language they found was a mystery. The splendors of Egypt were visible for all to see but with no understanding of its written word, it was not possible to gain an insight into the minds of the people who created that great civilization. In fact, their written language remained a mystery until the early 1800's when Englishman, Thomas Young and Frenchman, Jean-Francois Champollion discovered key components of the "primer", the keys that unlocked the code to the ancient Egyptian language.

Although we can appreciate the beauty of dolphins and whales (cetaceans), their language has remained a mystery to us throughout history.  Now, with the advent of the CymaScope, dolphin and whale sounds can be made visible.   Such visible sound patterns are called "CymaGlyphs" and we have begun to create a library of what could be thought of as the hieroglyphic language of cetaceans.  

By studying the body language and behaviors of dolphins and whales in relation to the sounds they make, we anticipate that a "cetacean primer" will emerge, and like the one that deciphered hieroglyphs, it will allow us to glimpse a once hidden world. The language of dolphins and whales may soon be unlocked.