Enhancing the analysis of murine neonatal ultrasonic vocalizations: development, evaluation, and application of different mathematical models

Rodents employ a broad spectrum of ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) for social communication. As these vocalizations offer valuable insights into affective states, social interactions, and developmental stages of animals, various deep learning approaches have aimed at automating both the quantitative...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Herdt, Rudolf (Author) , Kinzel, Louisa (Author) , Maaß, Johann Georg (Author) , Walther, Marvin (Author) , Fröhlich, Henning (Author) , Schubert, Tim Felix (Author) , Maass, Peter (Author) , Schaaf, Christian P. (Author)
Format: Article (Journal)
Language:English
Published: October 14 2024
In: The journal of the Acoustical Society of America
Year: 2024, Volume: 156, Issue: 4, Pages: 2448-2466
ISSN:1520-8524
DOI:10.1121/10.0030473
Online Access:Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0030473
Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://pubs.aip.org/asa/jasa/article/156/4/2448/3316833/enhancing-the-analysis-of-murine-neonatal
Get full text
Author Notes:Rudolf Herdt, Louisa Kinzel, Johann Georg Maaß, Marvin Walther, Henning Fröhlich, Tim Schubert, Peter Maass and Christian Patrick Schaaf
Description
Summary:Rodents employ a broad spectrum of ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) for social communication. As these vocalizations offer valuable insights into affective states, social interactions, and developmental stages of animals, various deep learning approaches have aimed at automating both the quantitative (detection) and qualitative (classification) analysis of USVs. So far, no notable efforts have been made to determine the most suitable architecture. We present the first systematic evaluation of different types of neural networks for USV classification. We assessed various feedforward networks, including a custom-built, fully-connected network, a custom-built convolutional neural network, several residual neural networks, an EfficientNet, and a Vision Transformer. Our analysis concluded that convolutional networks with residual connections specifically adapted to USV data, are the most suitable architecture for analyzing USVs. Paired with a refined, entropy-based detection algorithm (achieving recall of 94.9 % and precision of 99.3 %), the best architecture (achieving 86.79 % accuracy) was integrated into a fully automated pipeline capable of analyzing extensive USV datasets with high reliability. In ongoing projects, our pipeline has proven to be a valuable tool in studying neonatal USVs. By comparing these distinct deep learning architectures side by side, we have established a solid foundation for future research.
Item Description:Gesehen am 24.03.2025
Physical Description:Online Resource
ISSN:1520-8524
DOI:10.1121/10.0030473