用计算方法分析雏鸡叫声,发现孕期接触药物会改变其发声模式。
Embryonic Exposure to VPA Influences Chick Vocalisations: A Computational Study
- 自动检测并聚类雏鸡叫声,无需人工预设类别
- 用药组雏鸡叫声变短、音高变化少、能量分布改变
- 适合研究早期发育异常或动物行为神经机制的人
在雏鸡(Gallus gallus)等幼年动物中,叫声传递情绪与行为状态信息。传统分析依赖人工标注和预定义类别,存在偏差、难扩展且无法捕捉叫声复杂性。本文提出一种计算框架,实现叫声的自动检测、声学特征提取与无监督学习。应用于刚孵化雏鸡数据集,识别出两个主要叫声簇。进一步在胚胎期暴露于载体或丙戊酸(VPA,一种干扰神经发育并关联自闭症样症状的化合物)的独立数据集上验证该框架,聚类分析确认两组均有主要叫声簇,并发现系统性差异:VPA暴露组雏鸡叫声谱系发生改变,软声比例上升;在时域、频域和能量域特征上表现出差异化影响,整体表现为叫声持续时间更短、音高变化减少、能量特征改变,其中响亮叫声的改变最为显著。该研究构建了动物叫声分析的计算框架,推动对正常与异常早期发声发育的理解。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
In young animals like poultry chicks (Gallus gallus), vocalisations convey information about affective and behavioural states. Traditional approaches to vocalisation analysis, relying on manual annotation and predefined categories, introduce biases, limit scalability, and fail to capture the full complexity of vocal repertoires. We introduce a computational framework for the automated detection, acoustic feature extraction, and unsupervised learning of chick vocalisations. Applying this framework to a dataset of newly hatched chicks, we identified two primary vocal clusters. We then tested our computational framework on an independent dataset of chicks exposed during embryonic development to vehicle or Valproic Acid (VPA), a compound that disrupts neural development and is linked to autistic-like symptoms. Clustering analysis on the experimental dataset confirmed two primary vocal clusters and revealed systematic differences between groups. VPA-exposed chicks showed an altered repertoire, with a relative increase in softer calls. VPA differentially affected call clusters, modulating temporal, frequency, and energy domain features. Overall, VPA-exposed chicks produced vocalisations with shorter duration, reduced pitch variability, and modified energy profiles, with the strongest alterations observed in louder calls. This study provides a computational framework for analysing animal vocalisations, advancing knowledge of early-life communication in typical and atypical vocal development.
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