Audiogram Metadata Scheme
The audiogram metadata scheme specifies details about the animal subjects (category animal details), about the experimental procedure (category experiment details), and for the source of the data (category publication details) in a given audiometric experiment. The scheme is used to curate audiogram datasets from the scientific literature and to represent both the measurement data and the associated data about the test animals and experimental procedures in the Animal Audiogram Database.
Suggest additions or corrections in our public GitHub Repo.
Animal details
The category animal details specifies attributes for representing characteristics of the test animals used in the audiometric experiment. This data should be recorded for each individual animal included in a given study.
species
The biological species that the test animal belongs to.
value type: text
note: As a default the valid scientific name for the species should be indicated.
animal identifier
The name or identifier of an individual test animal.
value type: text
note: Animal names or identifiers are reproduced as indicated in the data source. As a default, no assumptions are made on the uniqueness of identifiers or the identity of animals mentioned in different sources. Establishing the identity of animals based on names, identifiers, or joint characteristics is deferred to subsequent analysis of the data. It is not uncommon for test animals in audiometric experiments to indeed have a unique individual name or identifier, especially with marine vertebrates in captivity. If available, this name or identifier together with other relevant animal data to allow unique identification (e.g., Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tag IDs), should be recorded to enable identification of the same individual in different experiments.
sex
The biological sex of the test animal.
value range: female; male
life stage
The life stage of the test animal.
value type: text
typical values: juvenile / sub-adult / adult
note: Other values, depending on life stage terminology for individual species are possible.
age
The age of the test animal..
value type: numerical
note: Uncertainty about the age might require recording age by specifying a lower and upper estimate in months for the age of the animal.
captivity status
The status of the test animal with regard to captivity.
value type: text
typical values: wild / captive / stranded
note: The values wild, captive, and stranded are applicable especially for marine mammals. Other values, depending on life stage terminology for individual species are possible.
captivity duration
The duration of captivity in months for test animals in captivity.
value type: numerical
note: Applicable only to animals with captivity status captive.
Method details
The category method details specifies attributes for representing characteristics of the experimental procedure.
institution
The institution where the experiment yielding the dataset was conducted.
value type: text
duration of study
The time interval in which the experiments that yield the audiogram dataset were conducted.
value type: text
note: The duration of study should be indicated with start and end dates, specifying the time interval during which the experiments which yield the audiogram dataset were conducted. These data, in conjunction with other data on the experimental setup can help to assess whether the experimental design was adequate for allowing test animals to focus on newly tested frequencies in psychophysical experiments.
test environment
A description of the test environment focusing on information pertinent for interpretation of the audiogram data.
value type: text
note: A number of characteristics of the test environment, most notably its acoustic characteristics such as the ambient noise level influence the experimental outcome. Those should be described here to facilitate interpretation of the measurements.
example: The test pool, filled with seawater, was about 4 m deep and 15 m in diameter.
number of animals
The number of test animals whose data has been aggregated in a given audiogram dataset.
value type: numerical
note: With certain experimental setups and some legacy datasets only data aggregated from a group of animals, rather than individuals, is available. This metadatum serves to specify the number of animals the data was aggregated from in these cases. If the data pertains to an individual animal the value of this attribute is 1.
animal position
The position of the test animal with respect to submersion or other relevant characteristics of the position with regard to the experimental setup or test environment during measurement.
value type: text
typical values: totally underwater / head just below water surface / head half out of water / outside of the water
note: The values totally underwater / head just below water surface / head half out of water / outside water are applicable especially for experimental setups for marine mammals. Other values, depending on the particular experimental setup are possible.
sedation state
Indicates whether or not the test animal was sedated.
value range: yes / no / unknown
note: Applicable only for electrophysiological experiments.
sedation details
Additional pertinent information on the sedation procedure.
value type: text
note: Applicable only for electrophysiological experiments.
test medium
The medium in which the test tone was perceived by the test animal.
value range: air / water
source distance
The distance of the test tone source device from the test animal in meters.
value type: numerical
test tone duration
Indicates the test tone duration in milliseconds.
value type: numerical
note: Test tone duration can vary with the frequency of the test tone to account for frequency dependent auditory integration times.
test tone form
Indicates whether pure tones or a pattern for modulating amplitude or frequency were used in the experiment.
value type: text
typical values: pure tone / cosine-gated tone bursts / sinusoidal amplitude modulated (SAM) tone (modulated narrow band noise / modulated rectangular click / pure tone) / sinusoidal frequency modulated (FM) tone (linear upward frequency modulated sweep / linear downward frequency modulated sweep / sinusoidal frequency modulation) / tone-pips
test tone presentation
The presentation mode of the test tone.
value range: click / pip trains / prolonged
note: Applicable only for electrophysiological experiments.
staircase procedure
An indicator for whether or not the test tone was presented by following a staircase procedure.
value range: yes / no / unknown
method of constants
An indicator for whether or not the test tone was presented by following a method of constants.
value range: yes / no / unknown
calibration
Description of the calibration procedure and parameters with regard to the sound pressure level reference value.
value type: text
measurement repeats
The number of repeat measurements for a given frequency and sound pressure in a given audiogram dataset.
value type: numerical
threshold value
An indicator of the minimum proportion of repeat measurements with a positive animal response in order to evaluate as positive test result for a given test tone frequency and sound pressure.
value type: numerical
note: usually indicated as percentage.
measurement objective
The measurement objective of the experiment which yielded the audiogram dataset.
value range: auditory threshold / critical ratio / critical bandwidth / equal loudness contours / time period of integration / TTS - Temporary Threshold Shift / PTS - Permanent Threshold Shift / signal duration test
test method
The type of method used in the experimental setup yielding the audiogram dataset.
value range: go – no go / go – no go & biting a target / go – no go & touching a target / go – no go & vocalization (behavioural methods); auditory evoked potentials (AEP) / auditory brain-stem responses (ABR) / envelope-following responses (EFR) (electrophysiological methods)
electrode position
A description of the position of the electrode sensor during the experiment.
value type: text
typical values: near the ear / left pan bone / right pan bone / near the blowhole / near the dorsal fin / on the back / near the beginning of the dorsal ridge / posterior to the dorsal ridge
note: Applicable only for electrophysiological experiments. The position of each electrode is to be documented separately.
Publication details
The category publication details provides attributes for referencing the original publication of the audiometric data in a given dataset.
source long
A full textual reference for the source of the audiogram dataset and corresponding metadata indicating authors, title and place of publication and any other data useful to identify the source of the dataset.
value type: text
source short
A short textual reference for the source of the audiogram dataset and corresponding metadata indicating author and date.
value type: text
DOI
The digital object identifier (DOI) for the source of the audiogram dataset and corresponding metadata.
value type: DOI