Hearing thresholds of two harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) for playbacks of multiple pile driving strike sounds.

摘要: Pile driving, which creates high amplitude sounds with potentially negative impacts on the marine environment, is used to attach wind turbines sea bed. To quantify distance at pile driving can be detected by harbor seals, unmasked hearing thresholds were obtained for series of five recorded 100 and 800 m from a location. The played back spectra resembled under certain conditions 10–50 km an offshore site. lower received level, later within seals responded. mean 50% detection threshold sound exposure levels any in were: 40 (seal 01, m), 39 43 02, m) dB re 1 μPa2s (add 9 pressure μPa). based only first ca. 5 higher. Detection depends actual propagation degree masking ambient noise, but present study suggests that are audible up hundreds kilometers sites.