Biodi e si y In o ma ion Science and S anda ds 9: e178694
doi: 10.3897/biss.9.178694
Con e ence Abs ac
Sounds o Li e: A FAIR Pla o m o Unlock he
Po en ial o ioacous ic Da a o Disco e y and
In e ope abili y
Julien Homo , Ké in Da y , Shadia Kilouchi
‡ Foxcub, Issy-Les-Moulineaux, F ance
§ CNRS UMR Passages, Pessac, F ance
Co esponding au ho : Julien Homo (julien.homo@ oxcub. ), Ké in Da y (ke in.da y@ oxcub. ), Shadia
Kilouchi (shadia.kilouchi@cn s. )
Recei ed: 19 No 2025 | Published: 24 No 2025
Ci a ion: Homo J, Da y K, Kilouchi S (2025) Sounds o Li e: A FAIR Pla o m o Unlock he Po en ial o
ioacous ic Da a o Disco e y and In e ope abili y. Biodi e si y In o ma ion Science and S anda ds 9: e178694.
h ps://doi.o g/10.3897/biss.9.178694
Abs ac
Con ex and mo i a ion
Ecoacous ics is an eme ging discipline ha s udies en i onmen al sounds ac oss spa ial
and empo al scales o unde s and biodi e si y and ecosys em dynamics, om species
beha iou o landscape-le el change (Sueu and Fa ina 2015).
Soundscapes encompass biological, abio ic, and an h opogenic acous ic sou ces,
p o iding a comp ehensi e and dynamic iew o ecosys ems. Despi e he inc easing
abundance o eco dings collec ed wo ldwide, en i onmen al acous ic da a emain
sca e ed, inconsis en ly desc ibed, and di icul o euse due o he absence o sha ed
in e na ional s anda ds and in e ope able wo k lows (Sugai e al. 2019).
To unlock his la en weal h in o ac ionable biodi e si y knowledge, s uc u ing and
in e ope abili y a e essen ial.
‡ ‡ §
© Homo J e al. This is an open access a icle dis ibu ed unde he e ms o he C ea i e Commons A ibu ion License (CC BY
4.0), which pe mi s un es ic ed use, dis ibu ion, and ep oduc ion in any medium, p o ided he o iginal au ho and sou ce a e
c edi ed.
The Sounds o Li e ini ia i e
Launched in 2023, Sounds o Li e (SoL) uni es o e a dozen F ench ins i u ions b idging
ecology, ecoacous ics, geog aphy, and in o ma ion sciences. Coo dina ed by CNRS-
UMR Passages and labelised by Huma-Num, he F ench na ional in as uc u e o digi al
humani ies, SoL aims o build a sha ed FAIR amewo k (Findable, Accessible,
In e ope able, Reusable) o en i onmen al acous ic da a. The ini ia i e b ings oge he
esea ch g oups ac oss F ance such as CEFE, ISYEB, CESCO, INRAE, Lab-STICC, and
o he s, combining biodi e si y expe ise wi h da a science and in as uc u e design.
A he hea o he p ojec is a FAIR-by-design pla o m ha ope a ionalizes he ull
pipeline: inges , en ich, anno a e, and publish. Th ough a web-based use in e ace (
Homo e al. 2025), use s can impo audio iles om local o cloud sou ces. A CSV
mapping s ep le s use s a ach a i s laye o s uc u ed me ada a on upload, while buil -
in alida o s check equi ed and ecommended ields o GBIF- eady publica ion. These
impo ed eco ds a e sha ed in a lib a y, enabling collabo a ion in wo kspaces.
Vocabula y se ices powe au ocomple e and no maliza ion. A cus omizable spec og am
iewe Fig. 1 enables use s o anno a e p ecise ime- equency egions, add commen s
and p o enance. Se s o eco ds, called da ase s, can be de ined wi h mappings o
Da win Co e e ms and packaged as Da win Co e A chi es (DwCA) wi h GBIF
compliance indica o s. Suppo o pe sis en iden i ie s in publica ion wo k lows is
planned o he nea u u e.
Lessons lea ned om he pilo
Building SoL a ound he FAIR p inciples e ealed key lessons in ep esen ing acous ic
da a wi hin biodi e si y s anda ds such as Da win Co e. A i s challenge conce ned
mul i-species soundscapes, which a e di icul o ep esen wi hin models ha assume a
single occu ence pe eco ding. While Da win Co e handles single- axon eco dings
well, eal soundscapes o en include se e al species and non-biological sounds. In ou
GBIF/TDWG-aligned p o ile, each eco ding is modeled as an E en and each de ec ion
as an Occu ence linked o ha E en , wi h he media held ia he Simple Mul imedia
ex ension. Time- equency anno a ions a e s o ed alongside de ec ions, and expo s
e e ence he same media eco d. This design emains GBIF-compa ible bu e eals
ic ion when publishing dense, mul i-species scenes, highligh ing he need o a
communi y pa e n o ligh weigh ex ension suppo ing mul i-label audio.
Ano he key inding conce ned ocabula y load. Beyond he abou 190 Da win Co e
e ms, mo e han 60 addi ional ields om 10 domain ocabula ies we e equi ed o
axonomy, geog aphy, de ices, and ai s. To keep o ms usable, we applied p og essi e
ield display s a egy ( equi ed o op ional), use-case p ese s, and GBIF- eady alida ion.
A minimal acous ic p o ile (abou 25 ields) complemen ed by an ex ended laye could
p o ide a p ac ical balance be ween exp essi eness and usabili y.
We also aced s uc u al challenges wi h he lack o a cen al schema en o cing
consis ency be ween E en , Occu ence, and Measu emen O Fac co es. We added
2Homo J e al
consis ency ules and expo checks o educe hidden e o s. Documen ing such pa e ns
in a concise TDWG guidance no e would help o he s align acous ic wo k lows wi h
exis ing biodi e si y s anda ds.
O e all, hese lessons unde line ha in e ope abili y is as much abou design and
usabili y as i is abou echnical s anda ds. Sha ed p o iles, c oss- ield alida ion ules,
and clea communi y guidance will make FAIR acous ics bo h achie able and
sus ainable a scale.
Collabo a ion, AI- eadiness, and nex s eps
Beyond echnical design, SoL enables collabo a i e cu a ion be ween ecologis s, da a
specialis s, and sound enginee s, aligning ocabula ies and imp o ing ep oducibili y
ac oss s udies, suppo ing he g owing use o en i onmen al sound as a measu able
ecological signal.
While he cu en pilo ocuses on me ada a managemen and anno a ion, i is
in en ionally AI- eady. Consis en , well-s uc u ed, and aceable da a a e p e equisi es
o au oma ed de ec ion, soundscape classi ica ion, and la ge-scale moni o ing. Recen
syn heses (e.g., Hoe e e al. (2023)) in passi e acous ic moni o ing emphasize he need
o s anda dized, compa able da ase s o enable obus c oss-si e analyses.
Figu e 1.
SoL web in e ace o acous ic da a explo a ion. Sc eensho om he Sounds o Li e pla o m
(Julien Homo & Sounds o Li e conso ium, 2025), licensed unde CC BY 4.0.
Sounds o Li e: A FAIR Pla o m o Unlock he Po en ial o ioacous ic Da a ... 3
Looking ahead, SoL aims o scale ca e ully beyond i s pilo phase and con ibu e back
o
he TDWG/GBIF communi y h ough sha ed p o iles and e e ence da ase s. In he sho
e m, h ough mid-2026, we a e seeking inpu om TDWG and GBIF expe s,
ecoacous ics esea che s, and da a publishe s o
1. e iew ou Da win Co e p o ile o acous ic da a (E en /Occu ence + Mul imedia)
and con olled ocabula ies o sound ypes and scenes;
2. es end- o-end expo s (DwC-A o IPT/GBIF) using eal mul i-species
soundscapes;
3. con ibu e pilo da ase s ac oss biomes o e alua e FAIRness, aceabili y, and
eusabili y; and
4. co-design AI- eady benchma k co po a wi h clea licensing, balanced labels, and
obus me ada a.
Ou goal is o align hese e o s wi h Eu opean and global in as uc u es so ha acous ic
e idence becomes du able and compa able a scale.
Keywo ds
ecoacous ics, soundscape ecology, biodi e si y moni o ing, en i onmen al eco dings,
me ada a in e ope abili y, da a s anda diza ion, con olled ocabula ies, GBIF in eg a ion,
Da win Co e, acous ic indices, collabo a i e audio cu a ion, spec og am anno a ion
P esen ing au ho
Julien Homo
P esen ed a
Li ing Da a 2025
Con lic s o in e es
The au ho s ha e decla ed ha no compe ing in e es s exis .
Re e ences
• Hoe e S, McKnigh D, Allen-Ankins S, No dbe g E, Schwa zkop L (2023) Passi e
acous ic moni o ing in e es ial e eb a es: a e iew. Bioacous ics 32 (5): 506‑531.
URL: h ps://doi.o g/10.1080/09524622.2023.2209052
• Homo J, Da y K, Kilouchi S (2025) Sounds o Li e: a FAIR pla o m o unlock he po en ial
o acous ic biodi e si y da a . Li ing Da a 2025. Video.
4Homo J e al
• Sueu J, Fa ina A (2015) Ecoacous ics: he Ecological In es iga ion and In e p e a ion o
En i onmen al Sound. Biosemio ics 8 (3): 493‑502. h ps://doi.o g/10.1007/
s12304-015-9248-x
• Sugai LSM, Desjonquè es C, Sil a TSF, Llusia D (2019) A oadmap o su ey designs in
e es ial acous ic moni o ing. Remo e Sensing in Ecology and Conse a ion 6 (3):
220‑235. h ps://doi.o g/10.1002/ se2.131
Sounds o Li e: A FAIR Pla o m o Unlock he Po en ial o ioacous ic Da a ... 5
