Evaluating vibroacoustic sensor performance and vibration attenuation: implications for soil biodiversity sampling
Abstract
Earth’s biodiversity is undergoing substantial changes in response to anthropogenic stressors, creating a need for efficient methods of assessing biodiversity, particularly in soil ecosystems where sampling remains challenging. Soil vibroacoustics - the use of substrate-borne vibrations or sounds to quantify or detect below-ground biological activity – offers a potentially rapid and scalable approach to sampling soil fauna, but several methodological gaps remain. There is currently a lack of standardisation across studies. For example, few studies have compared sensor performance, evaluated sampling procedures, or quantified how soil conditions influence attenuation in field settings. We assessed the performance of three sensors in dry-season tropical soils: an Aquarian H1a hydrophone (‘Hydrophone’), a JrF C-Series Pro contact microphone (‘JrF’), and a JrF sensor attached to a metal waveguide (‘Waveguide’). To test attenuation, sensors were positioned at varying distances from a buried speaker that emitted impulse tones (short broadband signals). The Waveguide approach was not suitable for dry, compacted soil because insertion caused structural damage to the waveguide. Recorded amplitudes did not differ significantly between sensors, but the Hydrophone exhibited a significantly higher signal-to-noise ratio (how clearly signals can be detected above unwanted background noise), whereas the JrF recorded significantly higher maximum frequencies in sandy soil. These differences may influence the detection of low amplitude vibrations from soil faunal activity. Soil type, compaction, moisture, temperature, and tree cover had minimal effects on attenuation and frequency loss. Further methodological refinement across different soil systems and geographical regions is vital for progressing soil vibroacoustic research.
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BibTeX
@misc{timperley2026evaluating,
title = {{Evaluating vibroacoustic sensor performance and vibration attenuation: implications for soil biodiversity sampling}},
author = {Jonathan Timperley and Catherine Parr and Dickson Mure and Kisiidi Maiyani and Immaculée Namahirwe and Margaret Njuguna and Lucy Smyth and Matt Rogan and Jonathan Baillie and Jafford Rithaa and Louise Roberts},
howpublished = {EcoEvoRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.32942/x27h7m},
url = {https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/14937/},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Evaluating vibroacoustic sensor performance and vibration attenuation: implications for soil biodiversity sampling
AU - Jonathan Timperley
AU - Catherine Parr
AU - Dickson Mure
AU - Kisiidi Maiyani
AU - Immaculée Namahirwe
AU - Margaret Njuguna
AU - Lucy Smyth
AU - Matt Rogan
AU - Jonathan Baillie
AU - Jafford Rithaa
AU - Louise Roberts
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/11
PB - EcoEvoRxiv
DO - 10.32942/x27h7m
UR - https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/14937/
AB - Earth’s biodiversity is undergoing substantial changes in response to anthropogenic stressors, creating a need for efficient methods of assessing biodiversity, particularly in soil ecosystems where sampling remains challenging. Soil vibroacoustics - the use of substrate-borne vibrations or sounds to quantify or detect below-ground biological activity – offers a potentially rapid and scalable approach to sampling soil fauna, but several methodological gaps remain. There is currently a lack of standardisation across studies. For example, few studies have compared sensor performance, evaluated sampling procedures, or quantified how soil conditions influence attenuation in field settings. We assessed the performance of three sensors in dry-season tropical soils: an Aquarian H1a hydrophone (‘Hydrophone’), a JrF C-Series Pro contact microphone (‘JrF’), and a JrF sensor attached to a metal waveguide (‘Waveguide’). To test attenuation, sensors were positioned at varying distances from a buried speaker that emitted impulse tones (short broadband signals). The Waveguide approach was not suitable for dry, compacted soil because insertion caused structural damage to the waveguide. Recorded amplitudes did not differ significantly between sensors, but the Hydrophone exhibited a significantly higher signal-to-noise ratio (how clearly signals can be detected above unwanted background noise), whereas the JrF recorded significantly higher maximum frequencies in sandy soil. These differences may influence the detection of low amplitude vibrations from soil faunal activity. Soil type, compaction, moisture, temperature, and tree cover had minimal effects on attenuation and frequency loss. Further methodological refinement across different soil systems and geographical regions is vital for progressing soil vibroacoustic research.
ER -