{"131291":{"#nid":"131291","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Bird Vocalization Research Could Improve Poultry Production, Lower Costs","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EChickens can\u2019t speak, but they can definitely make themselves heard. Most people who have visited a poultry farm will recall chicken vocalization \u2013 the technical term for clucking and squawking \u2013 as a memorable part of the experience.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResearchers now believe that such avian expressiveness may be more than idle chatter. A collaborative project being conducted by the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Georgia is investigating whether the birds\u2019 volubility can provide clues to how healthy and comfortable they are.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd that could be valuable information. Economically, chickens rule the roost in Georgia, where poultry is the top agricultural product with an estimated annual impact of nearly $20 billion statewide. There is industry concern about the welfare of the animals they raise; anything that helps growers reap a maximum return on every flock \u2013 while maintaining an environment conducive to their well-being \u2013 can translate to important dividends for the state\u2019s economy.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMany poultry professionals swear they can walk into a grow-out house and tell whether a flock is happy or stressed just by listening to the birds vocalize,\u201d said Wayne Daley, a Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) principal research scientist who is leading the research. \u201cThe trouble is, it has proved hard for these pros to pinpoint for us exactly what it is that they\u0027re hearing.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENevertheless, scientists are convinced that poultry farmers are detecting something real. Recent research at the University of Connecticut\u2019s Department of Animal Science indicates that it is indeed possible to differentiate how the birds react to various conditions based on their vocalizations.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe behavior of chickens is one of the best and most immediate indicators of their well-being,\u201d said Bruce Webster, a University of Georgia poultry science professor who is working on the project. \u201cChickens are vocal creatures and produce different types of vocalizations at different rates and loudness depending on their circumstances.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESo the Georgia Tech\/University of Georgia team is working to identify and extract specific vocalization features that will bear out both the anecdotal observations and the previous scientific work. The researchers are performing stress-related experiments on small flocks, recording the birds\u2019 reactions on audio and video and analyzing the results. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGTRI is providing expertise in control-systems development and image processing, while Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering is contributing audio signal-processing technology and the University of Georgia is providing research facilities as well as guidance in experimental design as they relate to animal behavior and welfare issues.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIf what experienced farmers hear and sense can be defined and quantified, sensors to detect cues from the birds themselves could really make a difference in providing real-time information on house environment, bird health, and comfort,\u201d said Michael Lacy, head of the Department of Poultry Science at the University of Georgia.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe work is funded by the Agricultural Technology Research Program, a state-supported effort to benefit the poultry and food-processing industries.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENaturally, said Daley, the poultry industry already has well-established guidelines covering optimal temperature, air quality and stocking density.\u0026nbsp; Nevertheless, costly problems can still crop up \u2013 control systems can malfunction, or presumably ideal levels can turn out to be problematic. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThat\u2019s where being able to judge the flock\u2019s behavior can be so important,\u201d Daley said. \u201cYour temperature sensors might say that things are fine, but the birds could be telling you that they think it\u0027s a bit too warm or other changes have occurred to make the conditions less than ideal.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFrom a poultry professional\u2019s viewpoint, the flock\u2019s opinion is probably the definitive one. Chickens take only six weeks to go from hatching to finished weight; stressful conditions can retard their growth, reducing their value when they go to market.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cContract poultry producers are paid by the pound of birds sent to market. Improving the overall health and productivity of the birds will help to improve the bottom line for individual producers,\u201d said Casey Ritz, a University of Georgia associate professor of poultry science who is involved in the research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe research team has conducted several experiments in which they have exposed flocks to mildly stressful environmental changes.\u0026nbsp; For example, temperature or ammonia levels might be increased from their initial settings for a few hours, then returned to the original level.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers have recorded the flocks\u2019 vocal reactions to the experiments, with video also collected in many instances.\u0026nbsp; To date, more than four terabytes of bird-vocalization audio has been gathered.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlmost at once, the researchers encountered a knotty problem as they recorded bird sounds. They discovered that the large fans necessary for air circulation in a grow-out house can be considerably louder than the chickens, making it difficult to capture bird vocalizations effectively.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDavid Anderson, a professor in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been working on the best methods for harvesting useable bird sounds from the noisy environment.\u0026nbsp; It\u2019s a classic audio signal-processing problem, he said, in which the signal of interest must separated from the noise that surrounds it.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe have several approaches for extracting poultry voicing from the others noises, and we\u0027ve been pretty successful in achieving that,\u201d he said.\u0026nbsp; \u201cWhat makes this different from most other bird-song research is that we\u0027re not listening to individuals, we\u2019re listening to sounds in the aggregate. It\u2019s like trying to understand what people are saying in a restaurant, when all you hear are the murmurings of a hundred diners.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo decode mass poultry vocalizing, Anderson is extracting particular features of the sound, such as speed, volume, pitch and other qualities. Then he\u2019s utilizing machine learning \u2013 in which computers recognize complex patterns in data and make decisions based on those patterns \u2013 to analyze the extracted features and determine which characteristics may convey specific meanings.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThese are initial experiments, and we\u0027re going to have to test under a variety of conditions, but we\u2019ve had considerable success already,\u201d Anderson said.\u0026nbsp; \u201cBy listening to the flock we can accurately tell when the birds are experiencing particular kinds of stress, such as significant temperature changes.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to ensuring high yield flocks, bird-vocalization analysis could save poultry growers money in equipment costs as well, Anderson suggested.\u0026nbsp; For instance, he said, currently available ammonia sensors are both expensive and short-lived.\u0026nbsp; If a system consisting of a few microphones and the right computer algorithms could take over ammonia-detection tasks, it would help reduce costs for the entire industry.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo date, video of the flocks hasn\u2019t produced results as useful as the sound recordings, said GTRI\u2019s Daley. But image processing of flock-reaction video continues, and could yield significant data down the road.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis multi-disciplinary, multi-institution project highlights the different skills necessary to tackle current problems,\u201d Daley said.\u0026nbsp; \u201cThis approach will be valuable in years to come as we tackle a variety of problems to help the industry continue to be profitable and sustainable.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 314\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAtlanta, Georgia\u0026nbsp; 30308\u0026nbsp; USA\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Assistance\u003C\/strong\u003E: John Toon (404-894-6986)(\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E); Abby Robinson (404-385-3364)(\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:abby@innovate.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Eabby@innovate.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E) or Kirk Englehardt (404-894-6015)(\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kirk.englehardt@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ekirk.englehardt@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E)\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter\u003C\/strong\u003E: Rick Robinson\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Collaboration with poultry scientists could boost Georgia industry"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EListening to squawks and other chicken \u0022vocalizations\u0022 using digital signal processing techniques may help farmers better manage growing conditions, contributing to both healthier birds and more productive poultry operations.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Listening to chickens could help engineers and poultry scientists better control growing conditions."}],"uid":"27303","created_gmt":"2012-05-16 21:45:33","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:12:18","author":"John Toon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2012-05-16T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2012-05-16T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"131251":{"id":"131251","type":"image","title":"Chicken Vocalization","body":null,"created":"1449178647","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:37:27","changed":"1475894691","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:51","alt":"Chicken Vocalization","file":{"fid":"194684","name":"bird-vocalization29.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bird-vocalization29_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bird-vocalization29_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1591291,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/bird-vocalization29_0.jpg?itok=05dN6EVu"}},"131261":{"id":"131261","type":"image","title":"Chicken Vocalization2","body":null,"created":"1449178647","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:37:27","changed":"1475894757","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:45:57","alt":"Chicken Vocalization2","file":{"fid":"194685","name":"bird-vocalization91.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bird-vocalization91_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bird-vocalization91_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1410012,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/bird-vocalization91_0.jpg?itok=SzU1F7Ph"}},"131271":{"id":"131271","type":"image","title":"Chicken Vocalization3","body":null,"created":"1449178647","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:37:27","changed":"1475894757","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:45:57","alt":"Chicken Vocalization3","file":{"fid":"194686","name":"bird-vocalization158.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bird-vocalization158_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bird-vocalization158_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2219063,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/bird-vocalization158_0.jpg?itok=aBNC4hHb"}}},"media_ids":["131251","131261","131271"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"}],"keywords":[{"id":"33961","name":"chicken"},{"id":"33981","name":"David Anderson"},{"id":"1925","name":"Electrical and Computer Engineering"},{"id":"416","name":"GTRI"},{"id":"668","name":"poultry"},{"id":"169432","name":"signal processing"},{"id":"33971","name":"Wayne Daley"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJohn Toon\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E404-894-6986\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jtoon@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}