Song bird vivaria considerations

Abstract

The design of laboratory animal vivaria should include consideration of factors that may impact the results of intended experiments. Two examples where the acoustic environment of birds could significantly affect experimental results include (1) song learning accuracy in isolated juvenile songbirds and (2) the preferences for bird songs by mates. We conducted a detailed analysis of a proposed vivarium design in a laboratory setting to assess important acoustical factors. We analyzed vivaria for room acoustics and sound isolation properties. Sound isolation and reverberation were primary concerns since bird song learning accuracy was an aim of the laboratory research. The environments are planned to be used to research juvenile birds learning a single model song during development. We tested the effects of treating the vivaria with sound absorbing foam, including the reverberation in enclosures and associated impacts on results comparing recorded bird songs. In addition, we tested the existing background sound levels observed in the laboratory and the sound isolation properties of the vivaria. Sound isolation results for the initial isolated environments shows transmission loss values from the exterior to the interior of the vivaria were significantly less than the expected 30 dB. Reverberation results reveal a distinct reduction when the interior of the vivarium enclosures were treated with a sound absorber.