ABSTRACT Synthetic, computer-generated signals are widely used in playback studies of animal acoustic communication. Depending on the goals of the experimenter, they can offer several significant advantages over playbacks of recordings of edited or unedited natural signals. However, there are few ‘off the shelf’ software options for the bioacoustician interested in synthesizing signals that combine ease of use with versatility. Here, we introduce SynSing, a free, open-source graphical user interface (GUI) for generating synthetic acoustic and seismic signals in MATLAB for use in playback studies of animal acoustic communication. Following a brief overview of the GUI, we describe how users can specify a variety of spectral properties (e.g., fundamental frequency, relative amplitudes and starting phases of harmonic and inharmonic components, frequency modulation) and temporal properties (e.g., pulse, note, or call duration and rate, onset and offset characteristics of amplitude envelopes) to generate individual signals or long sequences of repeated signals. We demonstrate SynSing’s versatility by reconstructing synthetic signals from published studies of several frogs, a field cricket, a katydid, a grasshopper, and a spider. We also provide worked examples of simple birdsong, as well as pure tones, linear frequency modulated sweeps, and noise.

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SynSing：用于在动物声学通信研究中生成合成信号的开源 MATLAB 代码

摘要 合成的、计算机生成的信号广泛用于动物声学通信的回放研究。根据实验者的目标，与回放已编辑或未编辑的自然信号的录音相比，它们可以提供几个显着的优势。然而，对于那些对合成兼具易用性和多功能性的信号感兴趣的生物声学家来说，很少有“现成的”软件选项。在这里，我们介绍 SynSing，这是一个免费的开源图形用户界面 (GUI)，用于在 MATLAB 中生成合成声学和地震信号，用于动物声学通信的回放研究。在对 GUI 进行简要概述之后，我们将描述用户如何指定各种频谱属性（例如，谐波和非谐波分量的基频、相对幅度和起始相位，频率调制）和时间特性（例如，脉冲、音符或呼叫持续时间和速率、幅度包络的起始和偏移特性）以生成单个信号或重复信号的长序列。我们通过从已发表的几种青蛙、蟋蟀、蚱蜢、蚱蜢和蜘蛛的研究中重建合成信号，证明了 SynSing 的多功能性。我们还提供了简单鸟鸣、纯音、线性调频扫描和噪声的工作示例。一只蚱蜢、一只蚱蜢和一只蜘蛛。我们还提供了简单鸟鸣、纯音、线性调频扫描和噪声的工作示例。一只蚱蜢、一只蚱蜢和一只蜘蛛。我们还提供了简单鸟鸣、纯音、线性调频扫描和噪声的工作示例。