OSBH:acoustics

This Page belongs to the Open Source Bee Hive Project

what for?

Acoustic analysis can be used to determine the health status and mood of the bees.

apidictor patent

frequencies to measure:

• 180-190 Hz ("normal"): healthy bee sound in quiet period (night?)
• ~220-290 Hz ( "warble"): if that sound occurs, queen's rate of egg laying has diminished.
• >3000 Hz ("hiss") : sound occurs by clapping or knocking on the hive.
  • short sharp hiss: healthy queen
  • sluggish rise in hiss with slow fade: abnormality

interpretation of the sounds

warble	hiss	interpretion
yes	sluggish rise and fall, max intensy much less than normal. "at time of issue it has vanished"	swarming activity. possibly noticeable 15 days before swarming.
yes	short sharp hiss	age or deformity of the queen
yes	on hiss vanishes completly	death or removal of queen

Links

• http://www.beehacker.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/2806082_DEFECTI.pdf
• http://www.digitalbees.info/sources/S%20Ferrari%202008.pdf