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Allows for Communication & Future Implications

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Allows for Communication & Future Implications

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Though the amount of communication between the dolphins and humans is limited, this technology allows for communication with an underwater species! CHAT could further researchers knowledge on individual dolphin behavior, communication between pod members, and dolphin communication with other species. Due to the constant updates the engineering team is making, there is no doubt the communication between the WDP researchers and the pod of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins in the Bahamas will be able to increase their number of interactions further. Being able to communicate with the dolphin pod could spark curiosity with the general public and raise awareness about the environmental issues affecting the ocean's biodiversity.

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(Cetacean Hearing and Augmented Telemetry) is a underwater wearable computer that sends sounds through a sub-aquatic speaker and receives signals with underwater microphones called hydrophones (CHAT research, n.d.; Kohlsdorf, Gilliland, Presti, Starner, & Herzing, 2013). This device facilitates limited two-way communication between dolphins and humans by the researcher pressing a specific key (that is paired to a specific object) on the keyboard and sending an artificial whistle to the dolphin (CHAT research, n.d.). After the researcher has sent out a sound, they wait for the dolphin to whistle back and for the CHAT device to translate the mimicked sound through the headphones (CHAT research n.d.).
The image below is an upclose picture of the CHAT device. Photo Credit to (Kohlsdorf et al., 2013) article.

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I am very excited to say that I am getting the chance to do a 9-day internship with the Wild Dolphin Project this June! Meaning I get the chance to take the knowledge I learn from this assignment and apply it in real life. I intend to share my internship experience and connect the importance of practicing sustainability for the ocean's ecosystem on my blog. I believe creating a blog post about this opportunity, will spark interests, raise awareness, and result in increased sustainable practices for my readers.

You guys can do this internship as well! If you are passionate, dedicated, and willing to put forth some money, it seems that anyone can join the Wild Dolphin Project in their endeavors. Make sure to check out the Wild Dolphin Project's website for more information!
Photo below taken by Bethany Augliere for The Wild Dolphin Project.

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Photo below taken by Bethany Augliere for The Wild Dolphin Project.

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Photo taken by Bethany Augliere for The Wild Dolphin Project.

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When I say this technology can assist humans in communicating with dolphins, I do not mean the researchers can have an entire conversation with the dolphins the way they could with other people. Instead, this technology can help facilitate interactions by pairing (conditioning) specific objects with specific whistles. Dolphins have natural whistles that they use to communicate with one another (Herzing, 2014), though the sound that the researchers sends out is not natural in dolphin communication (Herzing, 2010; Ramey, Gilliand, Kolhsdorf, & Starner, 2018).  The computer can currently send out 6 signals. Four of the signals are for objects like a scarf, rope, sargassum (seaweed), and the boat (aka bow rider). The other two artificial signals were created for two researchers while they are underwater (Herzing, Delfour, & Pack; 2012; Ramey, Gilliand, Kolhsdorf, & Starner, 2018).

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I attached a word document with sources and links.

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Researchers have to be able to swim and interact with the dolphins while also wearing the device. The fact that the device is based on what the researchers can wear or handle while swimming  limits the devices abilities (Ramey, Gilliand, Kolhsdorf, & Starner, 2018). The engineers of this device would like to make the system more comfortable to wear and easier to use for the researchers while in the water (Ramey, Gilliand, Kolhsdorf, & Starner, 2018).

Photo below taken by Hoffman Kuhnt for The Wild Dolphin Project.

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Interested in hearing about my experience in June? Check out my blog here.

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CHAT is currently unable to be a wireless device because of the salt water environment (Ramey, Gilliand, Kolhsdorf, & Starner, 2018). Therefore, the device can only be used as long as a researcher is in the water and in close proximity to dolphins.

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In addition to the limitations previously mentioned, the engineers and field researchers are hoping to see an improvement in the devices ability to recognize dolphin whistles (Ramey, Gilliand, Kolhsdorf, & Starner, 2018). Currently the device is limited to detecting the artificial sounds, and researchers would like to communicate using natural dolphin sounds.

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Due to trial-and-error and communication between the field researchers and the engineers, CHAT is now able to recognize mimic whistles from the dolphins that are at different frequencies then what the CHAT device sends out (Ramey, Gilliand, Kolhsdorf, & Starner, 2018).

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This interface technology was specifically created for the Wild Dolphin Project (WDP) researchers by a group of engineers at Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) (Ramey, Gilliand, Kolhsdorf, & Starner, 2018).

The Wild Dolphin Project has worked with Atlantic Bottlenose dolphins for over 30 years in the Bahamas. In 2010, WDP and GIT started to develop CHAT as a means to communicate with dolphins on a limited basis. I have yet to find any other researchers using this specific technology, though other research's have been found to interact with dolphins by pairing specific buttons on keyboards with shapes to facilitate play between dolphins and humans (Herzing, 2016).

However, I believe this device could be used to work with other underwater mammals (cetaceans) in the future as long as scientists are able to upload various sounds to the computer.

Click to watch a video about the Wild Dolphin Project and their research here. (Video is about 26 minutes, and very interesting.)