Cat meow sounds visualized with auto-correlation function
soundshader.github.io
Cat meow sounds visualized with auto-correlation function
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Re: Cat meow sounds visualized with auto-correlation function
#2Hi HN!
I used the meow sounds from https://soundspunos.com/animals/10-cat-meow-sounds.html. I expected to see very little variability in the meows, maybe just 4-5 different types for basic emotions. To my surprise, each “cat meow” has astonishingly colorful, complex and unique structure, unlike human vowels that follow a more or less predictable pattern: https://soundshader.github.io/vowels.
The algorithm behind these images is fairly simple. It computes FFT to decompose the sound into a set of A·cos(2πwt+φ) waves and drops the phase φ to align all cos waves together. This is known as the auto-correlation function (ACF). Before merging them back, it colorizes each wave using its frequency w: the A notes (432·2ⁿ Hz) become red, C notes - green, E notes - blue, and so on. Finally, it merges the colored and aligned cos waves back, using the amplitude A for color opacity, and renders them in polar coordinates, where the radial coordinate is time.
Re: Cat meow sounds visualized with auto-correlation function
#3Hi HN! I used the meow sounds from https://soundspunos.com/animals/10-cat-meow-sounds.html . I expected to see very little variability in the meows, maybe just 4-5 different types for basic emotions. To my surprise, each “cat meow” has astonishingly colorful, complex and unique structure, unlike human vowels that follow a more or less predictable pattern: https://soundshader.github.io/vowels . The algorithm behind th…
I would agree that the images are rather intriguing, but ... what does all this visual structure actually mean?
I'm guessing some kind of overtone structure in these sounds (perhaps decipherable to cats, but not to us)?
I await your insight.
Re: Cat meow sounds visualized with auto-correlation function
#4Hi HN! I used the meow sounds from https://soundspunos.com/animals/10-cat-meow-sounds.html . I expected to see very little variability in the meows, maybe just 4-5 different types for basic emotions. To my surprise, each “cat meow” has astonishingly colorful, complex and unique structure, unlike human vowels that follow a more or less predictable pattern: https://soundshader.github.io/vowels . The algorithm behind th…
I would agree that the images are rather intriguing, but ... what does all this visual structure actually mean? I'm guessing some kind of overtone structure in these sounds (perhaps decipherable to cats, but not to us)? I await your insight.
I know from personal experience, cat's use a lot of inflection in their voices. I'm not at all surprised by the images (though I don't know exactly what they mean). This inflection directly effects the image, because it modulates the pitch of the meow. Another factor, completely unrepresented in these images is the lower frequency components connected by seconds of silence. Most cats are pretty quiet, but sometimes they get the oral equivalent of the zoomies.
I would love to see more examples across species and variants of felines, under controlled conditions. Could you figure out an appropriate color map?
Not to start a dog vs cat war, but as someone who loves both, I think I can safely say that cats put much more information in their voices than dogs, for example.
Re: Cat meow sounds visualized with auto-correlation function
#5Cool idea progressing time outwards radially, for a moment I thought I was looking at the cat's eye through a strange filter!
Re: Cat meow sounds visualized with auto-correlation function
#6Hi HN! I used the meow sounds from https://soundspunos.com/animals/10-cat-meow-sounds.html . I expected to see very little variability in the meows, maybe just 4-5 different types for basic emotions. To my surprise, each “cat meow” has astonishingly colorful, complex and unique structure, unlike human vowels that follow a more or less predictable pattern: https://soundshader.github.io/vowels . The algorithm behind th…
I think it'd be useful to have the same graphs for some non-cat sounds, like the human vowels that you mention. It's not clear if there's something particularly interesting about cats or not here.
Re: Cat meow sounds visualized with auto-correlation function
#7Hi HN! I used the meow sounds from https://soundspunos.com/animals/10-cat-meow-sounds.html . I expected to see very little variability in the meows, maybe just 4-5 different types for basic emotions. To my surprise, each “cat meow” has astonishingly colorful, complex and unique structure, unlike human vowels that follow a more or less predictable pattern: https://soundshader.github.io/vowels . The algorithm behind th…
Is it possible to see what sounds map to what ACF images?
I don't see that. And without this, the effect is ... just some pretty pictures.
Re: Cat meow sounds visualized with auto-correlation function
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would agree that the images are rather intriguing, but ... what does all this visual structure actually mean? I'm guessing some kind of overtone structure in these sounds (perhaps decipherable to cats, but not to us)? I await your insight.
I know from personal experience, cat's use a lot of inflection in their voices. I'm not at all surprised by the images (though I don't know exactly what they mean). This inflection directly effects the image, because it modulates the pitch of the meow. Another factor, completely unrepresented in these images is the lower frequency components connected by seconds of silence. Most cats are pretty quiet, but sometimes t…
> Not to start a dog vs cat war, but as someone who loves both, I think I can safely say that cats put much more information in their voices than dogs, for example.
My cat only gets really vocal when she wants something ( & usually only with me, not my kids or spouse). She also trills a lot, usually in surprise. Could be they compress the data - dogs are very chatty - maybe the cats focus on high throughput whereas the dogs go for low-latency.
I'd love to see the same analysis done with dog barks.
Re: Cat meow sounds visualized with auto-correlation function
#9Is "dropping the phase" the same thing as computing the spectral power distribution?
P.S. A4 = 432Hz is a stupid fad that can't die soon enough.
Re: Cat meow sounds visualized with auto-correlation function
#10Hi HN! I used the meow sounds from https://soundspunos.com/animals/10-cat-meow-sounds.html . I expected to see very little variability in the meows, maybe just 4-5 different types for basic emotions. To my surprise, each “cat meow” has astonishingly colorful, complex and unique structure, unlike human vowels that follow a more or less predictable pattern: https://soundshader.github.io/vowels . The algorithm behind th…
I think it'd be useful to have the same graphs for some non-cat sounds, like the human vowels that you mention. It's not clear if there's something particularly interesting about cats or not here.
Here are vowels: https://soundshader.github.io/vowels