While conspecifics certainly provide very relevant acoustic information to marine mammals, they are exposed to a tremendous variety of different sound types. These can provide additional information about threats (e.g. predators) or opportunities (e.g. foraging). We use playback experiments to investigate communication distances and acoustic masking as well as reactions to other species or non-biological sound sources. These studies help us to understand what kind of information marine mammals extract from their acoustic environment and how they adjust their own calling behaviour to achieve optimal transmission of information. These studies also inform conservation efforts by providing details on how marine mammals react to different kinds of noise.
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