Detection of Typical Transient Signals in Water by XGBoost Classifier Based on Shape Statistical Features: Application to the Call of Southern Right Whale

Whale sound is a typical transient signal. The escalating demands of ecological research and marine conservation necessitate advanced technologies for the automatic detection and classification of underwater acoustic signals. Traditional energy detection methods, which focus primarily on amplitude, often perform poorly in the non-Gaussian noise conditions typical of oceanic environments. This study introduces a classified-before-detect approach that overcomes the limitations of amplitude-focused techniques. We also address the challenges posed by deep learning models, such as high data labeling costs and extensive computational requirements. By extracting shape statistical features from audio and using the XGBoost classifier, our method not only outperforms the traditional convolutional neural network (CNN) method in accuracy but also reduces the dependence on labeled data, thus improving the detection efficiency. The integration of these features significantly enhances model performance, promoting the broader application of marine acoustic remote sensing technologies. This research contributes to the advancement of marine bioacoustic monitoring, offering a reliable, rapid, and training-efficient method suitable for practical deployment.