Listening to a Changing Ocean: Broadening the Application of Ocean Soundscapes

Abstract The collection of sounds in an ocean environment defines the soundscape and offers information that can be used to understand marine life, weather and climate, and human activity. Strategic and collaborative research initiatives over the past decade have brought researchers together to expand collaborative ocean sound monitoring projects to monitor and compare global soundscapes. The insights a soundscape provide depend on what matters to those listening and myriad approaches exist to discover, analyze, and visualize soundscape data. Here, we categorize soundscape insights to highlight the broad use of ocean soundscapes as a practical, inherently holistic, and integrative tool for understanding and responding to dynamic and changing ocean environments. As the ocean sound research community continues to progress in developing and adopting standards and open-source data products, insights from ocean soundscape are becoming more accessible for broader ocean science applications. Mobilizing soundscapes as a tool for serving broader societal needs requires broader engagement to define what information matters and how the knowledge is applied. Here, we explore potential partnerships where ocean soundscapes may provide useful insights. Sustained monitoring efforts, data storage, processing, and visualization infrastructure, and collaborative opportunities are necessary to support these broader engagement efforts. By listening to the ocean with purpose and partnership, ocean soundscapes can become a cornerstone of evidence-based action in a rapidly changing world.