Sensory physiology of marine mammals and their prey. Functional anatomy, dynamics and biomechanics of odontocete sound production. Biosonar, signal properties, prey detection and auditory scene analysis of toothed whales. Hearing and particle motion detection in aquatic organisms. Ecophysiology, behavior, energetics and foraging ecology of deep diving odontocetes. Acoustic interactions between toothed whales and their prey. Physiological, behavioral and energetic effects of man made noise on marine mammals. Controlled exposure and playback experiments for mitigative purposes. Passive acoustic monitoring and underwater sound communication and sound transmission.

I study the signals involved in odontocete and microchiropteran echolocation, hearing and sound production specifically and neuroethology more generally. I currently focus on signal classification of beaked whale clicks for use in conservation and on external neural recordings from porpoises for determining how they cope with inhibition due their outgoing echolocation sound.

Physiological acoustics, especially biosonar (or echolocation). Topics include hearing in water (fish, seals, dolphins), sound production mechanisms, sound radiation, field studies using arrays, man-made noise and consequences for underwater animal communication, mechanisms of detection and ranging in bat echolocation, defense strategies for prey of echolocators. The lab includes an anechoic room and an anechoic tank. It is equipped with transducers and recorders for ultrasound. At sea, a large aperture, multi-node array is being used.