bioacoustics

American  

[bahy-oh-uh-koo-stiks, -uh-kou-] / ˌbaɪ oʊ əˈku stɪks, -əˈkaʊ- /

noun

(used with a singular verb)

1. the science of sounds produced by or affecting living organisms, as for communication or echolocation.

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Other Word Forms

• bioacoustical
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of bioacoustics

First recorded in 1955–60; bio- + acoustics

Example Sentences

Last year, the botanic garden installed bioacoustics monitors on trees to record pollinating insects' population by listening to the sound of their buzz.

From BBC • Apr. 28, 2026

Similar developments have been reported in research on other large carnivores, including spotted hyaenas, and reinforce the expanding value of bioacoustics in ecological science.

From Science Daily • Nov. 22, 2025

We had already used machine intelligence to analyze the codas, recorded using bioacoustics, and determined that both the clicks and the intervals between clicks are important.

From Salon • May 29, 2025

But three strandings close to his lab enabled lead author Coen Elemans, professor of bioacoustics at the University of Southern Denmark, to collect fresh vocal tracts from a recently deceased humpback, minke, and sei whale.

From National Geographic • Feb. 21, 2024

It is a marginal comfort to know that the relatively new science of bioacoustics must deal with similar problems in the sounds made by other animals to each other.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas