New underwater translator could help humans talk to dolphins

By Daily Mail Reporter


Decoding their language: Scientists are developing a new computer which may allow humans to communicate with dolphins


For years man has dreamt of being able to communicate directly with animals.

And now it appears that it could be a step closer thanks to a group of American scientists.

They are in the process of developing a underwater computer that attempts to recognise dolphin sounds and then respond in real time.


They are hoping to test the machine off the Florida coast in the next few weeks, and, if successful, it will be a huge step in establishing communication between humans and animals.

The machine works by using hydrophones to pick up the dolphin sounds and LEDs to show the direction they came from.

When they receive a sound, the divers will then play back one of eight 'words' and see if dolphins mimic them.

The scientists, led by Dr Denise Herzing, will then catalogue all the sounds the dolphins make and, they hope, establishing the building blocks of the dolphins language.

Breakthrough: The new machine, which may be similar to this, works by using hydrophones to pick up the dolphin sounds and LEDs to show the direction they came from


Once this is completed, Dr Herzing and her team hope to create a language they can use to talk back to the dolphins using the machine.

Previously behavioural biologists have carried out two-way communication with dolphins in the wild.

Dr Herzing and colleagues at the Wild Dolphin Project in Jupiter, Florida, established a shared, primitive form of language using sounds, symbols and props.

'Many studies communicate with dolphins, especially in captivity, using fish as a reward,' Dr Herzing told Wired.com. 'But it’s rare to ask dolphins to communicate with us.'

The earlier experiment revolved around both dolphins and humans asking each other for props such as balls and scarves.

A large underwater keyboard formed the focus of the study; each key was painted with a different symbol and emitted a precisely pitched whistle.

When a dolphin pressed a certain key with her nose, researchers would throw the corresponding prop into the water. Should the dolphin instead decide to whistle the pitch that a certain key would emit, then that prop would be thrown in.

Over the course of three years, the scientists played with the dolphins for 40 half-hour sessions.

They found that while young males were less interested in interacting with humans, young females enjoyed the game.

Dr Herzing said: 'This is when the females have a lot of play time, before they are busy being mothers.'

The sessions were at the most successful when the biologists had swum slowly with the dolphins beforehand, particularly if they had made eye contact and mimicked each other's movements.

Highlighting their social tendencies, the spotted dolphins Dr Herzing's team was playing with even recruited another species, bottlenose dolphins, to play the game.

The study was published in the Acta Astronautica journal.




source:dailymail