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Are Masking-Based Models of Risk Useful?

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The Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life II

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 875))

Abstract

As our understanding of directly observable effects from anthropogenic sound exposure has improved, concern about “unobservable” effects such as stress and masking have received greater attention. Equal energy models of masking such as power spectrum models have the appeal of simplicity, but do they offer biologically realistic assessments of the risk of masking? Data relevant to masking such as critical ratios, critical bandwidths, temporal resolution, and directional resolution along with what is known about general mammalian antimasking mechanisms all argue for a much more complicated view of masking when making decisions about the risk of masking inherent in a given anthropogenic sound exposure scenario.

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Acknowledgements

I thank Brian Branstetter, Chris Clark, and Jim Finneran for very fruitful discussions of this complex and difficult topic as well as Christine Erbe who was very generous with her expertise and her own extensive research for a much more thorough forthcoming review of the masking literature. Mike Weise, manager of the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Marine Mammal Science and Technology Program, was also very generous with information about the marine mammal stress and the population consequences of acoustic disturbance (PCAD) research teams supported by the ONR. The US Navy provided the time and resources needed to research and prepare this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center (EXWC) EV, US Navy, Port Hueneme, CA, 93043, USA

    Robert C. Gisiner

  2. International Association of Geophysical Contractors, 1225 North Loop West, Suite 220, Houston, TX, 77008, USA

    Robert C. Gisiner

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  1. Robert C. Gisiner
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Correspondence to Robert C. Gisiner .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA

    Arthur N. Popper

  2. Aberdeen, United Kingdom

    Anthony Hawkins

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Gisiner, R.C. (2016). Are Masking-Based Models of Risk Useful?. In: Popper, A., Hawkins, A. (eds) The Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life II. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 875. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2981-8_42

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