Quantifying Sound Exposure in a Pool: Comparing Hydrophones on a Grid with a Sound-Recording Tag on a California Sea Lion (Zalophus californianus)

Investigating anthropogenic acoustic disturbance and sound exposure in marine mammals requires evaluation of experimental approaches used to measure the sound levels experienced by the subjects. In previous research, exposure of California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) to eight narrow noise bands was estimated as the mean sound pressure level (SPL) measured by hydrophones placed at multiple locations and depths in a pool. We compare this method of SPL estimation with SPLs measured with a sound recording tag (“D-tag”). Measurements were taken from (1) hydrophones at locations on a grid; (2) a D-tag at the same locations; (3) a D-tag attached in its housing to a harness on a sea lion swimming freely in the pool; (4) a D-tag in its housing in one position in the pool; (5) a D-tag on the sea lion in one position in the pool; and (6) a D-tag turning in one location in the pool without its housing, in its housing, and on the sea lion while she rotated on her body axis. The SPLs recorded by the D-tag on a free-swimming sea lion were ~8 to 10 dB lower than those measured by the grid hydrophones, and the differences varied by frequency. These differences in SPL are caused by a combination of the directionality associated with the D-tag itself, the presence of the housing, acoustic effects of the sea lion’s body, and periods that the D-tag was out of the water during respirations. Measuring mean sound levels in test pools using hydrophones deployed on grids is valid; however, attaching tags to wild marine mammals may be more feasible than using hydrophone grids at sea. We summarize considerations when selecting a method to fit the design of future research.