DECEMBER 05 2022

Marine mammal permanent threshold shift prediction from

down-the-hole piling noise exposure using kurtosis 
Shane Guan

Proc. Mtgs. Acoust 50, 010001 (2022)

https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001727

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03 August 2023 12:01:22

Volume 50 http://acousticalsociety.org/

183rd Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America

Nashville, Tennessee
5-9 December 2022

Animal Bioacoustics: Paper 2pAB9

Marine mammal permanent threshold shift

prediction from down-the-hole piling noise exposure
using kurtosis
Shane Guan
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Division of Environmental Sciences, Sterling, VA, 20166, USA;
guan@cua.edu; shane.guan@boem.gov

03 August 2023 12:01:22

In assessing auditory effects on marine mammals from sound exposure, regulators currently estimate noise-
induced threshold shifts (NITSs) based on classifying anthropogenic sound in two mutually exclusive cate-
gories: impulsive or non-impulsive. However, in real-world situations, marine mammals are often exposed
to complex sound fields containing both impulsive and non-impulsive components, making it difficult or
even impossible to accurately assess NITSs from sound exposure. One example of complex sound origi-
nates from down-the-hole (DTH) pile installation, which generates both impulsive sound from percussive
drilling/striking and non-impulsive sound from simultaneous debris removal. This study employed a rela-
tively simple approach of using kurtosis values to quantify the impulsiveness of two DTH pile installation
datasets for six different marine mammal functional hearing groups. A kurtosis adjustment approach was
then used—one that has been suggested to be able to predict human hearing loss from sound exposure—to
calculate the correction factors for estimating NITSs of marine mammals exposed to DTH piling sound.
Fur-ther research on marine mammal NITSs from complex sound exposure is needed to validate and
improve this model.

Published by the Acoustical Society of America

https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001727
Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Vol. 50, 010001 (2023) Page 1
S. Guan Marine mammal adjusted auditory injury thresholds using kurtosis

1. INTRODUCTION
The potential impacts of underwater sound on marine mammals have received considerable attention over
the past several decades. Intense anthropogenic underwater sound can lead to a myriad of adverse effects, such
as auditory masking, behavioral disturbance, physiological stress, hearing impairment, and even physical injury
or mortality (Nowacek et al., 2007; Richardson et al., 1995).
For auditory impact assessments of marine mammals exposed to underwater sound, the regulatory
community currently classifies anthropogenic sounds in two mutually exclusive categories: impulsive or non-
impulsive sounds (Guan and Brookens, 2021). Although there is no clear definition regarding the classification
of impulsive and non-impulsive sound sources, it is a common practice among regulators to consider sounds
from seismic airguns and impact pile driving to be impulsive and sounds from vessels, vibratory pile driving,
drilling, and dredging to be non-impulsive (Guan et al., 2021). For each sound category, different threshold
levels where permanent threshold shifts (PTSs) are likely to occur are assigned to six marine mammal functional
hearing groups based on their auditory frequency responses (Finneran, 2016) (Table 1). Further, calculations for
exposure to impulsive sounds use a dual criterion of peak sound pressure level (Lp,pk) and cumulative sound
exposure level (LE,cum).

Table 1. Marine mammal PTS thresholds currently used by U.S. environmental regulators (Finneran, 2016).

Marine mammal Impulsive Non-impulsive

λ (1)
functional hearing group Lp,pk (dB re 1 μPa) LE,cum (dB re 1 μPa2-s) LE,cum (dB re 1 μPa2-s)
Low-frequency cetaceans (LF) 219 183 199 14.22
Mid-frequency cetaceans (MF) 230 185 198 11.56
High-frequency cetaceans (HF) 202 155 173 16.00

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Sirenians (SI) 226 190 206 14.22
Otariids (OW) 232 203 219 14.22
Phocids (PW) 218 185 201 14.22
(1)
The ratio of the difference between the 𝐿 , thresholds of impulsive sounds and those of non-impulsive sounds times the
logarithm of 40 over 3 [see Eq. (3)].

Using the PTS threshold values (Lthreshold), the safety distance (R) of the animal from a known sound source
with source level (SL) can be easily calculated using the basic sonar equation

𝐿 = 𝑆𝐿 − 𝑃𝐿 = 𝑆𝐿 − 𝐹 ∙ 𝑙𝑜𝑔 (𝑅)
(1)
𝑅 = 10( )⁄

where PL is the propagation loss and can be estimated using a geometrical spreading function 𝐹 ∙ log (𝑅), with
F the spreading loss coefficient.
The resulting safety distances are used to assess potential impacts on marine mammals within the ensonified
areas and to estimate numbers of marine mammals that would be exposed from a given population. Since Lthreshold
depends on the sound category, impact assessments typically are conducted for one specific sound source
category. However, in most real-world situations, sound fields in which the animals are exposed are complex,
meaning that they include both impulsive and non-impulsive sounds. For example, coastal construction activities
often involve down-the-hole (DTH) pile installation (Guan et al., 2022a; Guan and Miner, 2020), simultaneous
impact and vibratory pile driving or drilling (Department of the Navy, 2022a), simultaneous rock hammering
and drilling (Department of the Navy, 2022b), or impact pile driving from a barge that operates dynamic
positioning. Additionally, for an impulsive sound, its impulsiveness is expected to decrease as it travels from the
source outwards due to multiple propagation (Martin et al., 2020).
Although numerical methods could still be used to solve Eq. (1) using the proportion of PTS thresholds from
each sound category, this approach would require the application of the equal energy hypothesis without any

Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Vol. 50, 010001 (2023) Page 2

S. Guan Marine mammal adjusted auditory injury thresholds using kurtosis

adjustment of the thresholds, which may not reflect auditory impairment for complex sound exposure
(Henderson et al., 1982). In fact, studies on human and terrestrial mammal noise-induced threshold shifts (NITS)
have shown that, given the same LE,cum, exposures to complex sounds produce more hearing damage than
continuous non-impulsive Gaussian sound (Hamernik et al., 2007; Qiu et al., 2007). Qiu et al. (2013) further
discovered that as impulsiveness of the sound field increases, so do the auditory impacts.

2. METHODS AND MATERIALS

To quantify the impulsiveness of complex sound fields, a statistical quantity of kurtosis (β) has been
proposed as

𝑇 ∙ 𝑓 ∙ ∑ (𝑝 − 𝑝̅ )
𝛽= (2)
[∑ (𝑝 − 𝑝̅ ) ]

where 𝑓 is the sampling frequency, 𝑝 is the instantaneous acoustic pressure, and 𝑝̅ is the arithmetic mean of 𝑝
within the window duration T. For continuous Gaussian sound, 𝛽 = 3.
Based on chinchilla NITS studies, a 𝛽 greater than 40 indicates that the sound field is fully impulsive
(Hamernik et al., 2007). Using a kurtosis value of 3 for pure non-impulsive sounds and 40 for fully impulsive
sound, Goley et al. (2011) developed a method to adjust the auditory impact thresholds for complex sounds using
various levels of impulsiveness. The adjusted threshold level (𝐿 , ) can be calculated using the following
equation:

𝛽
𝐿 , =𝐿 , − 𝜆 ∙ 𝑙𝑜𝑔 (3)
𝛽

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where 𝜆 is the ratio of the difference between the 𝐿 , thresholds of impulsive sounds and those of non-
impulsive sounds times the logarithm of 40 (𝛽 for fully impulsive sounds) over 3 (𝛽 for non-impulsive Gaussian
sounds). The values of 𝜆 for each of the six functional hearing groups are provided in Table 1.
This study used underwater acoustic datasets from two DTH pile installation activities conducted in
southeast Alaska to derive adjusted marine mammal PTS thresholds (Guan et al., 2022a; Guan and Miner, 2020).
DTH pile installation is a relatively new technique that employs a pneumatic hammer to strike drill bits located
at the base of the pile to break the bedrock and other substrate to advance the pile. Drilling debris and cuttings
are airlifted through the middle of the pile. Thus, sounds generated from DTH pile installation are perfect
examples of complex sounds that include impulsive sounds from hammer strikes and non-impulsive sounds from
debris removal. It is also recognized that two slightly different types of DTH pile installation mechanisms exist:
DTH pile driving and DTH pile drilling (Guan et al., 2022b). In DTH pile driving, the hammer strikes not only
the drill bits but also the metal pile shoe to accelerate the pile installation process; in DTH pile drilling, the
hammer only strikes the drill bits without physical contact to the pile. Therefore, sounds from DTH pile driving
have been found to be more impulsive than DTH pile drilling (Guan et al., 2022b).
The DTH pile-driving dataset is from the installation of two 18-inch (0.46-m) steel pipe piles for the
construction of a ferry dock off Biorka Island, Alaska, in August 2018. Underwater acoustic recordings were
collected at distances of 10 m and 200 m for the first pile and 10 m for the second pile. Details of the acoustic
characteristics of DTH pile driving of these piles are provided in Guan and Miner (2020).
The DTH pile-drilling dataset is from the installation of two 33-inch (0.84-m) steel shafts for the construction
of a cruise ship terminal in Ward Cove off Ketchikan, Alaska, in June 2020. Underwater acoustic recordings
were collected at distances of 10, 200, and 1,300 m for the first pile and 10, 90, and 150 m for the second pile.
Details of the acoustic characteristics of DTH pile drilling of these two piles are provided in Guan et al. (2022a).
To calculate the kurtosis values for different marine mammal functional hearing groups, frequency-weighted
acoustic pressures for each of the functional hearing groups were computed based on the frequency weighting
function provided by Finneran (2016). In addition, data at the same distance (i.e., 10 m) for each DTH pile
installation activity were pooled together. The frequency-weighted acoustic pressures from different distances
were then grouped into 60 s time windows to compute the kurtosis using Equation (2). Detailed results of derived

Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Vol. 50, 010001 (2023) Page 3

 S. Guan Marine mammal adjusted auditory injury thresholds using kurtosis

kurtosis values are reported in Guan and Brookens (in review). These kurtosis values were then fed into Equation
(3) to solve for adjusted marine mammal PTS thresholds for each of the six functional hearing groups.

3. RESULTS
The estimated adjusted marine mammal PTS thresholds for DTH pile driving and drilling at different
distances are provided in Tables 2 and 3, respectively. For DTH pile driving, adjusted PTS thresholds were
similar to impulsive thresholds near the source (10 m) but increased with distance (Figure 1(A)). However, for
DTH pile drilling, adjusted PTS thresholds varied little with distance and were more similar to non-impulsive
PTS thresholds (Figure 1(B)). With the adjusted PTS thresholds provided in Tables 2 and 3, the safe distance
(R) can then be analytically evaluated using Equation (1).

Table 2. Adjusted marine mammal PTS thresholds (dB re 1 μPa2-s) from DTH pile-driving sound exposure at 10
and 200 m, along with current SEL thresholds for impulsive and non-impulsive sounds.

Marine mammal Current Adjusted PTS Adjusted PTS Current non-

functional hearing group impulsive threshold (10 m) threshold (200 m) impulsive
Low-frequency cetaceans (LF) 183 185 188 199
Mid-frequency cetaceans (MF) 185 187 192 198
High-frequency cetaceans (HF) 155 158 164 173
Sirenians (SI) 190 191 199 206
Otariids (OW) 203 204 209 219
Phocids (PW) 185 187 192 201

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Table 3. Adjusted marine mammal PTS thresholds (dB re 1 μPa2-s) from DTH pile-drilling sound exposure at 10,
90, 150, 200, and 1,300 m, along with current SEL thresholds for impulsive and non-impulsive sounds.

Adjusted Adjusted Adjusted Adjusted Adjusted

Marine mammal Current
Current PTS PTS PTS PTS PTS
non-
functional hearing group impulsive threshold threshold threshold threshold threshold
impulsive
(10 m) (90 m) (150 m) (200 m) (1,300 m)
Low-frequency cetaceans (LF) 183 195 194 193 195 195 199
Mid-frequency cetaceans (MF) 185 196 195 195 195 195 198
High-frequency cetaceans (HF) 155 170 168 169 169 170 173
Sirenians (SI) 190 203 202 202 203 204 206
Otariids (OW) 203 216 215 214 215 217 219
Phocids (PW) 185 198 197 196 197 199 201

Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Vol. 50, 010001 (2023) Page 4

S. Guan Marine mammal adjusted auditory injury thresholds using kurtosis

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Figure 1. Adjusted marine mammal PTS thresholds for (A) DTH pile driving and (B) DTH pile drilling
with distance from the source. Solid lines indicate regression among adjusted PTS threshold points. Dashed
lines are PTS thresholds for non-impulsive sound, and dotted lines are for impulsive sound. LF: low-
frequency cetaceans, MF: mid-frequency cetaceans, HF: high-frequency cetaceans, SI: sirenians, OW:
otariids, PW: phocids.

Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Vol. 50, 010001 (2023) Page 5

S. Guan Marine mammal adjusted auditory injury thresholds using kurtosis

4. CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSIONS

Current regulatory guidance for assessing auditory impairment of marine mammals exposed to
anthropogenic underwater sound is based on laboratory temporary threshold shift (TTS) studies of animals
exposed to controlled stimuli that are one of the following three types (Finneran, 2015): relatively long-duration
band noise (e.g., Kastelein et al., 2021; Nachtigall et al., 2003; Popov et al., 2011), short-duration tones (e.g.,
Ridgway et al., 1997), or impulsive sound (e.g., Finneran et al., 2000). The first type of sound is representative
of non-impulsive sound and the latter two have been used to represent impulsive sound. Although some of the
TTS studies used realistic sources such as waterguns (e.g., Finneran et al., 2002) and airguns (e.g., Lucke et al.,
2009), no study has used a combination of impulsive and non-impulsive sounds that resemble many real-world
situations.
When information is lacking, the Goley et al. (2011) approach appears to be the only alternative to assess
marine mammal auditory injury from complex sound exposure by considering variable levels of impulsiveness.
Additionally, as the impulsiveness for impulsive sounds decreases with increasing distances, this method can
also be used to model marine mammal auditory injury from impulsive sound exposure at far ranges. However,
since this method relies on audiometric data derived from human and terrestrial mammals, it may not reflect
marine mammal hearing physiology and auditory effects from complex sound exposure. Therefore, it is
imperative to initiate studies to obtain NITS data on marine mammal species that are exposed to control acoustic
stimuli with various degrees of impulsiveness. Such studies are needed to establish appropriate standards that
can be used to address impacts that reflect real-world situations.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author thanks Robert Miner of Dynamic Testing of Alaska Inc.; Turnagain Marine Construction, Inc.;
and Solstice Alaska Consulting, Inc. for collecting and providing acoustic data used for this study. Thank you to
Tiffini Brookens, Paulina Chen, Rodney Cluck, Samuel Denes, and Yoko Furukawa for review of the

03 August 2023 12:01:22

manuscript.

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