README

Ruido is an R package that aims to provide a simple and accessible framework for calculating less common soundscape metrics that describes noise dynamics. It provides accessible tools for calculating less common, but ecologically meaningful soundscape metrics, helping researchers move beyond standard and classic indices.

The package implements methods to estimate:

These metrics can be used to explore acoustic complexity, biotic activity, and environmental disturbance, making Ruido useful for ecological monitoring, bioacoustic surveys, or experimental soundscape studies.

References

Installation

CRAN Download:

install.packages("Ruido")
library(Ruido)

Github Download:

devtools::install_github("Arthurigorr/Ruido")
library(Ruido)

Examples:

If you wish to temporary download the files using R to follow the examples, run:

options(timeout = 500)

dir <- tempdir()
recName <- paste0("GAL24576_20250401_", sprintf("%06d", seq(0, 230000, by = 10000)), ".wav")
recDir <- paste(dir, recName, sep = "/")

for (rec in recName) {
  print(rec)
  url <- paste0("https://zenodo.org/records/17243660/files/",
                rec,
                "?download=1")
  download.file(url, destfile = paste(dir, rec, sep = "/"), mode = "wb")
}

These examples use ggplot2 and patchwork to plot their results. Before running them, first run:

library(ggplot2)
library(patchwork)

Background Noise (BGN) and Soundscape Power (POW)

BGN_POW <- lapply(recDir, bgNoise)

time <- sapply(strsplit(recName, "_"), function(x)
  paste(substr(x[3], 1, 2), substr(x[3], 3, 4), substr(x[3], 5, 6), sep = ":"))
date <- sapply(strsplit(recName, "_"), function(x)
  paste(substr(x[2], 1, 4), substr(x[2], 5, 6), substr(x[2], 7, 8), sep = "-"))

dateTime <- as.POSIXct(paste(date, time))
sampRate <- BGN_POW[[1]]$sampRate
kHz <- cumsum(c(0, rep(sampRate / 6, 6))) / 1000
breaks <- round(c(1, cumsum(rep(256 / 6, 6))))

timeLabels <- time[c(1, 7, 13, 19, 24)]
timeBreaks <- as.character(dateTime[c(1, 7, 13, 19, 24)])

plotList <- list()
plotN <- 1

for (ind in c("BGN", "POW")) {
  for (cha in c("left", "right")) {
    core <- do.call(cbind, lapply(BGN_POW, function(x) {
      x[[cha]][[ind]]
    }))
    
    dim(BGNLEFT)
    
    coreDf <- data.frame(
      TIME = as.character(rep(dateTime, each = sDim[1] * 3) + rep(rep(c(0, 60, 120), each = sDim[1]), sDim[2] / 3)),
      SPEC = rep(seq(sDim[1]), sDim[2]), VAL = c(unlist(core))
    )
    
    plotList[[plotN]] <- ggplot(coreDf, aes(x = TIME, y = SPEC, fill = VAL)) +
      geom_tile() +
      theme_classic() +
      scale_y_continuous(expand = c(0, 0), labels = kHz, breaks = breaks) +
      scale_x_discrete(expand = c(0, 0), labels = timeLabels, breaks = timeBreaks) +
      scale_fill_viridis_c(option = "magma", name = ind) +
      labs( x = "Time of Day", y = "Frequency (kHz)", title = paste(ind, "in the", cha, "channel")
      )
    
    plotN <- plotN + 1
    
  }
}

plotList[[1]] + plotList[[2]] + plotList[[3]] + plotList[[4]]

Soundscape Saturation (SAT)

sat <- soundSat(dir)
SAT <- sat$values

satForPlot <- cbind(
  aggregate(SAT ~ AUDIO + CHANNEL, data = SAT, sd),
  aggregate(SAT ~ AUDIO + CHANNEL, data = SAT, mean)$SAT,
  TIME = rep(substr(time, 1, 5), 2)
)
colnames(satForPlot)[c(3, 4)] <- c("sdSAT", "meanSAT")

ggplot(
  satForPlot,
  aes(x = TIME, y = meanSAT * 100, group = CHANNEL, fill = CHANNEL,
    ymin = pmax(meanSAT - sdSAT, 0) * 100, ymax = pmin(meanSAT + sdSAT, 100) * 100
  )
) +
  geom_ribbon(alpha = 0.5) +
  geom_line() +
  geom_point() +
  theme_classic() +
  scale_y_continuous(limits = c(0, 100), expand = c(0, 0)) +
  scale_x_discrete( expand = c(0, 0), breaks = c("00:00", "06:00", "12:00", "18:00", "23:00")
  ) +
  labs(y = "Soundscape Saturation (%)") +
  theme(
    axis.title.x = element_blank(), axis.text = element_text(size = 15),
    axis.title = element_text(size = 18, face = "bold"),
    legend.title = element_text(size = 15, face = "bold"),
    legend.text = element_text(size = 15)
  ) +
  guides(fill = guide_legend(title = "Side"))

Acoustic Activity

act <- multActivity(dir, powthr = sat$powthresh, bgnthr = sat$bgntresh / 100)

time <- sapply(strsplit(recName, "_"), function(x)
  paste(substr(x[3], 1, 2), substr(x[3], 3, 4), substr(x[3], 5, 6), sep = ":"))
date <- sapply(strsplit(recName, "_"), function(x)
  paste(substr(x[2], 1, 4), substr(x[2], 5, 6), substr(x[2], 7, 8), sep = "-"))

dateTime <- as.POSIXct(paste(date, time))
sampRate <- act$info$SAMPRATE[[1]]
kHz <- cumsum(c(0, rep(sampRate / 6, 6))) / 1000
breaks <- round(c(1, cumsum(rep(256 / 6, 6))))

timeLabels <- time[c(1, 7, 13, 19, 24)]
timeBreaks <- as.character(dateTime[c(1, 7, 13, 19, 24)])

plotList <- list()
plotN <- 1

for (cha in c("left", "right")) {
  actCurrent <- act$values[, act$info$CHANNEL == cha]
  actCurrentDF <- data.frame(
    TIME = as.character(rep(dateTime, each = sDim[1] * 3) + rep(rep(c(0, 60, 120), each = sDim[1]), sDim[2] / 3)),
    SPEC = rep(seq(sDim[1]), sDim[2]),
    VAL = factor(c(unlist(actCurrent)), levels = c(0, 1))
  )
  
  plotList[[plotN]] <- ggplot(actCurrentDF, aes(x = TIME, y = SPEC, fill = VAL)) +
    geom_tile() +
    theme_classic() +
    scale_y_continuous(expand = c(NA, NA), labels = kHz, breaks = breaks) +
    scale_x_discrete(expand = c(0, 0), labels = timeLabels, breaks = timeBreaks) +
    scale_fill_manual(values = c("white", "black"), labels = c("Inactive", "Active")) +
    guides(fill = guide_legend(title = "Acoustic Activity")) +
    labs(
      x = "Time of Day",
      y = "Frequency (kHz)",
      title = paste("Acoustic Activity in the", cha, "channel")
    )
  
  plotN <- plotN + 1
  
}

plotList[[1]] + plotList[[2]] +
  plot_layout(guides = "collect")

Ruido: An R Package for Profiling Background Noise and Calculating Soundscape Saturation