MAASTRICHT UNIVERSITY · BIOACOUSTICS RESEARCH

Listen closer.
Understand more.

We use bioacoustics and machine learning to study animal populations in real-world settings, starting with birds in European zoos.

Azure-winged magpie perched on a branch
Azure-winged magpie · a species featured in our research
8Partner zoos across Europe
2,098Individuals
104Bird species
Monthsof acoustic recordings

01 / OUR WORK

Research at the intersection of
sound, ecology, and AI.

01 / FRAMEWORK

Population size estimation

A statistical framework connecting acoustic activity with population-level inference across different vocalization scenarios.

In progress
02 / CHALLENGE

BioDCASE 2026

A 2026 bird-counting challenge using real, multi-species zoo aviary recordings. Dataset, baseline, and results are available.

03 / SPECIES RECOGNITION

ARIA

A hybrid BirdNET and PERCH framework for recognizing zoo species in overlapping aviary recordings.

04 / CALL STRUCTURE

Vocalization modeling

Studying temporal patterns, overlapping calls, and interactions in bird vocal activity.

In progress

FIELDWORK & DATA

How we listen.

See how aviary recordings become data for species recognition and bird counting.

Explore the recordings and data

02 / COMMUNITY

Research happens together.

A record of the challenges and events that brought together people working in bioacoustics, ecology, and machine learning.

03 / OUTPUT

Papers & submissions.

BIOSIGNALS 2026 · PAPER AVAILABLE

Counting without Seeing: Toward Acoustic Population Estimation from Unsupervised Audio Features

Aysenur Arslan-Dogan · Aki Härmä

IEEE WCCI 2026 · PAPER AVAILABLE

ARIA: A Hybrid BirdNET–PERCH Framework for Inventory-Driven Bird Species Recognition in Zoo Aviaries

Emre Argın · Bernardo Amado Costa · Aki Härmä · Aysenur Arslan-Dogan

DCASE WORKSHOP 2026 · ACCEPTED, AWAITING PUBLICATION

BioDCASE 2026 Challenge on Bird Population Counting from Passive Acoustic Recordings

Emre Argın · Aysenur Arslan-Dogan · Aki Härmä

BNAIC · UNDER REVIEW

BNAIC submission

Title and final publication details will be added after confirmation.

ICASSP 2027 · UNDER REVIEW

PaCCL: Partition- and Channel-Consistent Call Counting Learning for Passive Acoustic Monitoring of Pied Avocets

Aysenur Arslan-Dogan · Aki Härmä

LET'S CONNECT

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