02831nas a2200229 4500008004100000245014500041210006900186520200300255653002302258653002402281653001502305653002602320653002502346653002902371653000802400653001702408100002102425700002902446700002002475700002102495856008502516 2020 eng d00aUltrasonic vocalizations in house mice depend upon genetic relatedness of mating partners and correlate with subsequent reproductive success0 aUltrasonic vocalizations in house mice depend upon genetic relat3 a

Background
Courtship vocalizations are used by males of many species to attract and influence the behavior of potential mating partners. Our aim here was to investigate the modulation and reproductive consequences of courtship ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) in wild-derived house mice (Mus musculus musculus). The courtship USVs of male mice are surprisingly complex and are composed of a variety of different syllable types. Our specific aims were to test whether (1) the emission of courtship USVs depends upon the kinship of a potential mating partner, and (2) whether USV emission during courtship affects the pairs’ subsequent reproductive success.

Results
We experimentally presented males with an unfamiliar female that was either genetically related or unrelated, and we recorded USV emission, first while the sexes were separated by a perforated partition and then during direct interactions, after removing the partition. USVs were detected by the Automatic Mouse Ultrasound Detector (A-MUD) and manually classified into 15 syllable types. The mice were kept together to test whether and how courtship vocalizations predict their subsequent reproductive success. We found that the mice significantly increased their amount of vocalizations (vocal performance) and number of syllable types (vocal repertoire) after the partition was removed and they began interacting directly. We show that unrelated pairs emitted longer and more complex USVs compared to related pairs during direct interactions. Unrelated pairs also had a greater reproductive success compared to related pairs, and in addition we found a negative correlation between the mean length and amount of vocalizations with the latency to their first litter.

Conclusion
Our study provides evidence that house mice modulate the emission of courtship USVs depending upon the kinship of potential mating partners, and that courtship USVs correlate with reproductive success.

10aAdaptive functions10aGenetic relatedness10aHouse mice10aMus musculus musculus10areproductive success10aUltrasonic vocalizations10aUSV10aWild derived1 aNicolakis, Doris1 aMarconi, Maria, Adelaide1 aZala, Sarah, M.1 aPenn, Dustin, J. uhttps://frontiersinzoology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12983-020-00353-102330nas a2200181 4500008004100000245008500041210006900126520175500195653001201950653001601962653001401978653002301992653002802015100001702043700001502060700001702075856005602092 2020 eng d00aSocial context increases ultrasonic vocalizations during restraint in adult mice0 aSocial context increases ultrasonic vocalizations during restrai3 a

Adult mice emit many ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) during social interaction tasks, but only a few studies have yet reported USVs in stressed adult mice. Our aim was to study which experimental conditions favor USV emission during behaviors associated with different emotional states. As USVs likely mediate social communication, we hypothesized that temporary social isolation followed by exposure to a novel social congener would promote USV emission. USVs were recorded in three different behavioral paradigms: restraint, free moving in a new environment, and during a social interaction task. We compared USV emission, with or without the presence of a social congener, in animals socially isolated during different periods (0, 6 or 21 days). Social isolation decreased the number of USVs during free moving, whereas it increased during restraint. During the social interaction task, animals produced high-frequency USVs (median: 72.6 kHz, 25–75% range: 67.6–78.2 kHz), especially when the social partner was active and social motivation was high. During restraint, presence of a social congener increased the call rate of low-frequency USVs (median: 52.4 kHz, 25–75% range: 44.8–56.5 kHz). USV frequency followed two unimodal distributions that distinguished low-frequency USVs (≤ 60 kHz) mainly emitted during free-moving (90.9% of total USVs) and restraint (93.1%) conditions, from high-frequency USVs (> 60 kHz) mainly emitted during the social interaction task (85.1% of total USVs). The present study confirms that USV call rate and frequency depend on behavioral states, and provides evidence that the presence of a congener promotes ultrasonic vocalizations in restrained adult mice.

10aArousal10aFree moving10aRestraint10aSocial interaction10aultrasonic vocalization1 aLefebvre, E.1 aGranon, S.1 aChauveau, F. uhttp://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10071-019-01338-201390nas a2200241 4500008004100000020002200041245006600063210006600129260004400195520060300239653003700842653002200879653002400901653002100925100002100946700001600967700002300983700001801006700002101024700002701045700002101072856005501093 2019 eng d a978-3-030-31634-100aAutomatic Segmentation of Ultrasonic Vocalizations in Rodents0 aAutomatic Segmentation of Ultrasonic Vocalizations in Rodents aChambSpringer International Publishing3 a

Ultrasonic vocalizations studies in rodents have increasingly drawn researchers attention as it have been considered a powerful tool to understand the animals behavior and their interactions in different social and environmental contexts.

This paper presents an entropy-based algorithm for accurate and robust segmentation of mouse ultrasonic calls. Instead of using the conventional energy-based features, the spectral entropy is developed to identify the audio segments accurately. The new approach for mice calls detection has been able to detect up to 97% of the vocalizations.

10aRodents ultrasonic vocalizations10aSignal processing10aSignal segmentation10aSpectral Entropy1 aHenriques, Jorge1 aNeves, Nuno1 ade Carvalho, Paulo1 aPessoa, Diogo1 aPetrella, Lorena1 aCastelo-Branco, Miguel1 aTeixeira, César uhttp://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-31635-801978nas a2200205 4500008004100000245009300041210006900134520129400203653001801497653003101515653003601546100002101582700001801603700001601621700002101637700002901658700002001687700002101707856004401728 2019 eng d00aApplying convolutional neural networks to the analysis of mouse ultrasonic vocalizations0 aApplying convolutional neural networks to the analysis of mouse 3 a

Many species in diverse taxonomic groups, including rodents, bats, and insects, communicate with complex ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) (>20 kHz). Two main components of processing and analyzing USV recordings include detection and classification of syllable types. Recently we developed an efficient algorithm for detecting mouse USVs (Automatic Mouse Ultrasound Detector (A-MUD)). The main challenge is detecting USVs under conditions with a low signal-to-noise ratio, while minimizing rates of false positives (FP). Mice produce many short USVs (< 10 millisecond) that inflate FPs. We aimed to improve the detection of mouse USVs with A-MUD by classifying vocalizations into three discrete syllable types (with 0, 1, or ≥2 frequency-jumps) or FP. Supervised Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) were fed by 2D Gammatone Spectrograms (GSs) adapted to the frequency range of mice. Evaluation of performance shows that CNNs yielded an overall accuracy of 95±1.2% and macro-F1 score of 90±2.7%. In contrast, multilayer feed-forward neural networks fed by vectorized spectrograms provided an overall accuracy of only 85.4±1.9% and macro-F1 score of 75.4±2.9%, and therefore, the chosen CNNs outperformed this conventional classification method.

10aDeep learning10aImage-based classification10aUltrasonic vocalizations (USVs)1 aAbbasi, Reyhaneh1 aBalazs, Peter1 aNOLL, Anton1 aNICOLAKIS, Doris1 aMarconi, Maria, Adelaide1 aZala, Sarah, M.1 aPenn, Dustin, J. uhttps://bio.acousti.ca/pt-pt/node/5741902137nas a2200145 4500008004100000245008000041210006900121520158100190653001201771653002001783653000901803100002401812700002201836856013301858 2019 eng d00aPerception of Ultrasonic Vocalizations by Socially Housed and Isolated Mice0 aPerception of Ultrasonic Vocalizations by Socially Housed and Is3 a

It is currently unclear whether mice use their ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) for communication purposes. It is also unknown if mice require previous experience with USVs to understand conspecifics. There is some evidence that experience changes the perception of juvenile USVs; however, it is unclear whether similar plasticity also occurs for adult USVs. To examine whether social exposure or deprivation throughout development leads to changes in USV perception, eleven female CBA/CaJ mice were trained to discriminate between 18 USVs of three different categories using operant conditioning procedures. Mice were group housed with four females or housed individually from weaning for the duration of the experiment. Socially housed and isolated mice differed in initial training times on pure tones, suggesting isolated mice had a more difficult time learning the task. Both groups completed USV discrimination conditions quicker at the end of the testing phases relative to the beginning. The overall discrimination of USVs did not differ between the two housing conditions, but a multidimensional scaling analysis revealed that socially experienced and isolated mice perceive some USVs differently, illustrated by differences in locations of USVs on the scaling maps from the two groups. Finally, a negative correlation was found between spectrotemporal similarity and percent discrimination, and analyses support the idea that mice may show categorical perception of at least two of the three USV categories. Thus, experience with USVs changes USV perception.

10ahearing10apsychoacoustics10aUSVs1 aScreven, Laurel, A.1 aDent, Micheal, L. uhttp://eneuro.org/lookup/doi/10.1523/ENEURO.0049-19.2019https://syndication.highwire.org/content/doi/10.1523/ENEURO.0049-19.201901936nas a2200265 4500008004100000022001400041245006600055210006600121260001600187520115100203653001701354653001801371653002001389653001601409653003001425653000901455653001201464653001701476653002001493653002201513653002001535653002901555100003101584856005501615 2018 eng d a1548-358400aVocal Signals of Sexual Motivation in Male and Female Rodents0 aVocal Signals of Sexual Motivation in Male and Female Rodents cJan-10-20203 a

Purpose of the Review

Rodents produce ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) under different social contexts, including courtship and reproduction. The present review aims to summarize the behavioral, bioacoustical, and physiological evidence that USV are reliable signals of sexual motivation in both male and female rodents.

Recent Findings

USV are actively produced by both sexes during sexual interactions, contrary to earlier assumptions. Male-typical and female-typical vocal behaviors can be identified. Calling rates and acoustic parameters, such as call duration, frequency, and energy, can be modulated rapidly over time by motivational state and sexual context. USV produced in response to sexual context could be regulated by the brain on a moment-to-moment basis through non-classical mechanisms of steroid action. Finally, I provide some practical considerations for the acoustic and statistical analyses of these vocal signals.

Summary

USV can be used as signals of sexual motivation in both sexes to study brain and hormonal mechanisms underlying sexual behavior or sexual differentiation.

10abioacoustics10acommunication10aGolden hamsters10aHouse mouse10aNongenomic steroid action10aRats10aRodents10aSex steroids10aSexual behavior10aSexual motivation10aSyrian hamsters10aUltrasonic vocalizations1 aFernández-Vargas, Marcela uhttp://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11930-018-0179-9