An evolutionary algorithm to create artificial soundscapes of birdsongs

Birdsongs are an integral part of many landscapes, in urban and countryside areas. Together they constitute an ecological network of interacting sonic agents that are self-organised into an open complex system of similar cognitive aspects, yet with original acoustic content. This work presents a preliminary study and development of an evolutionary algorithm (EA) used here for the generation of virtual birdsongs that create an artificial sonic landscape; a soundscape of birdsongs. They are reproduced by genetic operators that build sequences of parameters to control instantiations of a computer model that emulates a bird syrinx. Such models are capable of synthesising a wide range of realistic birdsongs that altogether compound a dynamic network of artificial bird calls. This system can also be interactive as external input data can be received in real-time through instant text messages from the micro-blog Twitter. These messages are mapped as new individuals living in the EA system population set. As further described, by means of an aimless evolutionary process, the EA system presented here is capable of creating realistic artificial soundscapes of birdsongs.