Detection of Active Wood-Boring Insect Larvae Using Acoustic Emission Measurements: Principles, Experimental Validation, and Practical Applications

The larvae of wood-boring insects often cause damage to wooden buildings, furniture, and objects of cultural heritage. A fundamental practical challenge in assessment and conservation is reliably distinguishing between active and inactive infestations—a distinction that conventional visual inspection methods cannot always resolve with confidence. We present a selection of experiments for the implementation of acoustic emission (AE) measurement methods for these inspections, spanning from highly controlled laboratory settings to practical field tests. An overview explains the physical principles of structure-borne sound emission by feeding larvae and the AE sensors and other instrumentation used (AMSY-6 stationary system and the single-channel Insect Activity Detection System, IADS). Laboratory experiments with standardized small specimens containing single larvae of Hylotrupes bajulus are described in detail, examining the influence of temperature, sensor coupling method, and sensor-to-larva distance on detection reliability. Verification experiments on large structural timber with unknown infestation levels demonstrated the practical applicability of the method and enabled qualitative localization of larval activity. Field applications in historic buildings, churches, and cultural heritage objects are presented and discussed. The results confirm that AE sensors can reliably detect larval activity of H. bajulus in standardized specimens at signal-to-noise ratios clearly distinguishable from negative controls. Sensor sensitivity decreases significantly with distance, with reliable detection up to approximately 30 cm under the tested conditions. Although interpretive expertise in wood biology, infestation assessment, and conservation expertise remains essential, the results indicate that AE sensors can indeed be used to detect larval activity inside wood in a non-destructive way in a broad range of field and laboratory applications and across a range of conditions.