Registration of Sounds Emitted by the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach Using a Distributed Acoustic Sensor

Recent advancements have expanded the applications of fiber-optic distributed acoustic sensors (DAS), including their use in monitoring the acoustic activity of insects, which can be either harmful or beneficial to agriculture. Previous studies have demonstrated the capability of DAS to record and analyze insect-generated acoustic signals in real-world conditions; however, these studies primarily involved large insect colonies. In this work, a fiber-optic DAS is used for the first time to record the sounds produced by a single insect under controlled laboratory conditions. This was achieved using an optimized and cost-effective experimental setup designed and assembled, including a specially developed and manufactured sensing element. The results demonstrate that the fiber-optic DAS effectively captures the acoustic signals of the Madagascar hissing cockroach (<i>Gromphadorhina portentosa</i>), including both the mechanical interactions of the insect with the optical fiber and the characteristic hissing sound produced in response to external stimulation.