Wildlife Acoustics Echo Meter Touch User Manual

1! Overview!

1.1!Echo'Meter'T ouch'Ultrasonic'Modules

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1.2!App'Fe a t ures

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1.3!Leave'Feedback'or'Revi ew'the'App

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2! Using Echo Meter Touch!

2.1!Connecting' the' Ul trasonic' Module

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2.2!Navi gati n g'the'a pp

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2.3!Monitoring'in'Live'Mode

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2.4!Configuri ng' Aut o-ID

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2.5!Recording'in'Live'Mode

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2.6!The'Recor ding' Li s t

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2.7!Viewing' S pect rogr ams' of ' Record i ngs

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2.8!GPS'Vi e w

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2.9!Advanced ' Se ttings'Screen

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2.10!Restore'Defaults

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3! Recordings!

3.1!Filenames'for'R ecor dings

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3.2!Metadata'Tags'for'Recor dings

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3.3!Sharing'Recor dings' via'Email' or' Text 'Message

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3.4!Backing'Up' R ec or di ngs

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3.5!Transferring'Recordings'to'a'Computer

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3.6!Importing'Recordings

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3.7!Analysis'Soft wa re

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4! Specifications!

4.1!Physi c al

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4.2!Audio

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4.3!Stor age' Requir ements

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4.4!Androi d' De vi c e' Compa t i bi lity

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Updated on October 21, 2017 for App Version 2.2.4

1

Overview

Echo Meter Touch app with an Echo Meter Touch Ultrasonic
Module allows you to listen to, record, and identify bats with
your Android phone or tablet. The Echo Meter Touch offers
exclusive features and unprecedented ease-of-use for a
handheld bat detector.
Echo Meter Touch Ultrasonic Modules are available from

www.wildlifeacoustics.com/products/echo-meter-touch

This guide is available for printing at:

www.wildlifeacoustics.com/support/documentation

1.1 Echo'Meter'Touch'Ultrasonic'Modules'

Echo Meter Touch 2

Echo Meter Touch 2 ($179) is
intended for nature enthusiasts and
batting hobbyists.

Echo Meter Touch 2 Pro

The Echo Meter Touch 2 Pro ($349)
is designed for bat professionals
and features a higher quality
microphone, adjustable gain,
higher sample rate, as well as
advanced settings.

1.2 App'Features'

Listen to bat echolocations in real time

Echo Meter Touch translates bat echolocations into
frequencies that are audible to humans using two
technologies.
Wildlife Acoustics’ patented Real Time Expansion (RTE) allows
you to listen to bats in real time with unparalleled fidelity. RTE
maintains the timing and tonality of the original
echolocations.
Heterodyne (HET) listening is also available, for those
accustomed to that way of hearing bats. Manual and
automatic tuning is available.

View the echolocations on a spectrogram

A real-time spectrogram shows the frequencies and timing of
the echolocations. Scroll back in time and zoom in on
previous "bat passes."

See most likely bat species in real time

The Auto ID feature analyzes the echolocation calls and shows
the two most likely bat species matches in real time. In North
America, a portrait of each bat taken by renowned bat expert
Merlin Tuttle will be show as well. This is the same technology
used in our professional Kaleidoscope Pro Bat Auto
Identification software. Currently, the app can identify 29
species in North America, 25 in Europe and 57 in the
neotropics. For more information on Kaleidoscope and a full
list of species, visit our website.

AUTO-ID FINE PRINT: Because bats vary their echolocation
calls in response to a wide variety of needs, no automated
call identification can achieve 100% accuracy in species
identification. Nevertheless, in the hands of well-trained
experts, bat detector recordings can be used to identify
many species, providing invaluable discoveries. The Echo

Meter Touch allows high quality recording suitable for
analysis by experts. The built-in Auto-ID feature also
suggests the two most likely bat species for each recording,
for the enjoyment of enthusiasts hoping to learn more about
bats. These automated identifications, though largely
accurate, should not be relied on as a basis for scientific
research. Auto-ID is intended for use in analyzing recordings
of single bats in free flight in low clutter environments.
Recordings of roost emergence, multiple or captive bats,
bats in high clutter environments, or bat social calls are not
suitable for Auto-ID. In addition, the Auto-ID feature does not
include every possible bat for each of the covered regions.
Therefore, if a bat that is not included is recorded, it will be
identified by the app as a species with a similar echolocation
call type. In North America, there are seven species included
in the species list that do not have classifiers. They are
included so as to allow the user to learn about every species
that occur in their state.

Record to WAV files

Use triggered recording to automatically save bat passes to
full spectrum WAV files for analysis on a computer or to view
on your Android device. Or use manual record mode to
control start and stop of recording. View the recording
spectrogram and add voice or text notes. Listen to the
recording using RTE, HET, or traditional Time Expansion
Playback (playback at fractional speed to make the ultrasound
audible).

See your path and recording locations

View your path, including recording locations in satellite or
road map view. View identified species codes directly on the
map. Go to the recording's spectrogram from the map view.
Transfer to your computer to view in Google Earth. Your
Android device must have GPS capability or you must use a
Bluetooth GPS receiver for this functionality.

NOTE: This feature requires an Android device with a GPS
capability or a Bluetooth GPS receiver.

Transfer recordings to your computer

The Echo Meter Touch can transfer full spectrum WAV
recordings to your computer over a wireless network or
through a USB cable. Using Wi-Fi, the app bundles the
recordings in a .zip folder and allows download by entering a
URL in any web browser.

Share recordings via email or MMS messaging

You can share recordings via email or MMS messaging and
import and open files that have been shared with you.

1.3 Leave'Feedback'or'Review'the'App''

Please contact us with any suggestions, issues, questions, or
comments. We are always looking for ways to improve the
app for you. Tap Email Feedback on the Information page of
the app to send your feedback.
If you like the app, please let others know by selecting

Review this App from the Information page.

2

Using Echo Meter Touch

This section describes how to use the Echo Meter Touch app
to monitor bats.

NOTE: The display examples in this guide were composed on
an iPhone in portrait orientation. There may be minor difference
on an Android device. You can also view the app in landscape
mode. On tablet sized devices, there are minor differences in
layout due to the larger display size.

2.1 Connecting'the'Ultrasonic'Module'

The Echo Meter Touch Ultrasonic Modules sense ultrasonic
signals, digitize the signal, and transmit the ultrasonic data to
the Android phone or tablet.
Plug an Ultrasonic Module into the micro-USB connector of
your Android device and you can immediately start listening
to, recording, and identifying bats.

NOTE: Devices with USB-C ports will require a female micro­USB to male USB-C adapter.

1. Plug the Ultrasonic Module into

the micro-USB connector of your
Android device.

2. The Android device asks you to

open the Echo Meter Touch app if
it is not already open.

3. Press the START button to begin

streaming the ultrasonic data.

NOTE: The module should be pointed in the general direction
of the bats which requires the Android device to be turned
upside down as shown above.

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2.2 Navigating'the'app'

To navigate through the app, press the main menu symbol.
You can go to other sections of the app while still hearing and
recording bats. You can even continue to monitor and record
bats in the background while using other apps.

'

The main menu

symbol

2.3 Monitoring'in'Live'Mode'

In LIVE MODE, ultrasonic data is streamed to your Android
device. The frequency and duration of the bat echolocation
calls are visually represented in a scrolling spectrogram.

In LIVE MODE you can scroll back and zoom into portions of
the scrolling spectrogram. After scrolling back in time, a
“Return to real-time” button appears at the top right of the
screen; press to jump forward to real-time. You can scroll
back in time through up to 10 minutes of history. The app will
intelligently reduce the history if the Android device is nearly

Spectrogram

Waveform

Frequency scale in

kHz

Time scale in

milliseconds

full. A frequency reference line allows viewing a specific
frequency.

You can listen to bats using Wildlife Acoustics patented Real
Time Expansion (RTE) or Heterodyne (HET). RTE translates the
ultrasonic sounds to a range that is audible to humans by
taking tiny snippets of the sound and slowing it down. Since
there is quite a bit of space in between bat echolocation calls
relative to the length of the call, the space in between is used
to play back the slowed down call. When in HET mode,
double tap the grey frequency reference control to go into

RTE/HET/OFF toggle

Pinch and zoom in

time or frequency on

the spectrogram or

waveform

Tap to activate

frequency reference

line (drag to move)

Spectrogram Settings

Slide to change

waveform display

size

auto-het mode. This will constantly tune to the frequency with
the most energy above the Trigger Minimum Frequency
setting (see below) or a minimum of 10 kHz for EMT1 and
EMT2 Pro or 16 kHz for EMT2. Just drag the grey slider on the
left side to manually tune.
A bandpass filter is implemented based on the zoom level of
the frequency axis in all listening modes. If you zoom in
frequency, you will only hear the frequencies visible on the
screen. If there is a quite a bit of low frequency noise, or the
recorder is picking up its own output, you can zoom such that
the noise is not seen on the screen and filter for a cleaner
sound. You can also filter out the higher frequency noise of
the EMT2 if you do not have very high frequency bats.
Tap the Settings icon to open the spectrogram settings
panel. Here you can adjust the brightness and contrast of the
spectrogram as well as adjust the minimum frequency to
trigger a recording. In portrait orientation, it appears as
shown; in landscape orientation it appears at the top right of
the screen.

In Compressed mode, the Echo Meter Touch only shows
spectrograms containing ultrasonic signals. The spectrogram
does not scroll unless there is a signal such as bat
echolocations. In Expanded mode, the spectrogram scrolls in

Brightness and

Contrast of the

spectrogram

Recording Frequency

Threshold