MAPUA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SCHOOL OF EE-ECE-CoE

INTRAMUROS, MANILA

Dog Bark Translator

by Brian James C. Barcelona Orlaine L. Gagarin Sonny Boy Ramos

A Research Report Submitted to the School in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Bachelor of Science in Electronics Engineering Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering

Mapa Institute of Technology September 2013

APPROVAL SHEET This is to certify that we have supervised the preparation of and research report prepared by Brian James C. Barcelona, Orlaine L. Gagarin and Sonny Boy Ramos entitled Dog Bark Translator that the said research report has been submitted for final examination by the Oral Examination Committee.

Janette Fausto
Adviser

As members of the Oral Examination Committee, we certify that we have examined this research report, presented before the committee on September 21, 2013, and hereby recommend that it be accepted as fulfillment of the research report requirement for the degree in Bachelor of Science in Electronics Engineering and Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering.

Panel Member

Panel Member

Committee Chairman

This research report is hereby approved and accepted by the School/Department as fulfillment of the research report requirement for the degree in Bachelor of Science in Electronics Engineering.

Dean, School of EE-ECE-CoE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost we express our deepest thank you to our God who gave us power to finish this research report, hope whenever we feel hopeless and for guiding us in the whole process of the research report. We would like thank our family in supporting us while doing the research report, in giving us all our needs for the research, and determination to finish the research and pass the course. Finally, we would like to thank our friends who help us in doing the research by giving us their ideas, concepts and tips in doing the whole research report and to our professor, Engr. Janette Fausto, for teaching us the whole processes and elements of doing a research. For this achievement, we give back all the glory and praises to the omnipotent Father Almighty.

Brian James C. Barcelona Orlaine L. Gagarin Sonny Boy Ramos

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page LIST OF TABLES Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION.. 2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE .. 19 3. METHODOLOGY .. REFERENCES vii

LIST OF TABLES

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION Ever since the domestication of canine in early centuries, we had forged a special bond between this canine. Now canines are commonly called dogs, that we give too much attention and credit. Dog owners often treat their pets as a companion, a friend and even part of the family. We had somehow able to communicate with the dogs through interpretation of their actions and through mutual communication. We even talk to our pet dogs as if we are crazy talking to the dog who doesnt even talk and can only bark as a response. In addition, have we ever fully understand them as much as they understood us? Furthermore, we even sometimes misinterpret their actions and responded to it. Now, imagine if the dogs can talk like a human; we can really communicate with them and see an entirely a different world.

Ask any dog owner why his or her dog barks and youll get a plethora of answers. Because he is hungry. He wants to come inside. He cant stand strangers on his property. With so many uses for one type of vocalization, is barking just a nuisance by-product of domestication or could barking serve some specific communication functions?

For the answer, the researcher initially turned to the scientific literature. Surprisingly, although there are over 52 millions dogs in the U.S. alone, there are very few studies on vocal communication in domestic dogs (Beaver, 1999). The two main peer reviewed papers were published in the 1960s and 1970s and a well-known popular press article was published in the early 1990s [1]. Most books, textbooks, and scientific articles that mention barking in dogs cite these three sources. Interestingly, the consensus among researchers has been that dogs bark so frequently, in so many contexts, and some bark for such long periods of time in

the absence of obvious stimuli or receivers (animals that are listening), that barking must just be a non-specific way for dogs to get attention. More subtle communication occurs through body language and olfactory cues.

Dog Translator seems a impossible device for now but is possible for the near future. Scientists had study dog barks ever since we have been strike by our curiosity and the dream to better understand animals. Good thing is that there is a device called bowlingual which is made by the Japanese acoustic scientist that translate barks to an output of text read by the owner. However, there is still a need for more investigation. The vocabulary available is too limited that we cannot translate every bark of our dogs. The need for further investigation of the dogs actions, interpretations and responses.

This research aims to understand our pet dog through translating the bark to human language. In addition, translating dogs bark by matching the frequency of the bark to a corresponding and approximate interpretation, as well as the action of the dog. Barks are commonly interpreted as an offensive action or defensive action by defending their territory, translating it will identify whether it is offensive or defensive.

This research will greatly increase our bond to our pet dogs. This would also allows us to invent more devices that can translate other animal language to our own language. And this could also be done vice versa, translating our human language to a animal language. But for now, this will increase our knowledge on dogs and we can now understand what they really want to convey. This will also change how we view them as animal.

This research will only work on the most common interpretation we can interpret on our dogs. The device has only a limited vocabulary so it can only translate the most common interpretation like, I need to poo or I need to pee and so on and so forth. This research also shows the programs that we shall use in translating and interpretation of their actions.

Chapter 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Any dog owner understand his or her dog whenever it barks, ask them how and they will answer it honestly. For some special reason they can understand their dog even if it they have several dogs or pack they can understand every one of their pet dog. To better understand their pet dogs they had studied the dogs action, watch them carefully and hire trainers that will train and interpret it. Dog translator and dog recognition had been a device developed by the scientist to better understand the dog language.

These arguments are convincing, especially in light of the fact that barking is often considered a nuisance behavior. Many counties in the U.S. have adopted ordinances that address noise from barking dogs (Seen and Lewen, 1975), barking is a major source of noise pollution in dog kennels (Sales et. al., 1997) and inappropriate barking is one of the most common behavior problems that owners report to their veterinarian with up to 35% of owners listing this as a complaint (Beaver, 1999).

These arguments are, however, the types of arguments reserved solely for domesticated animals. Its easy for people to assume that such animals are tainted by a soft life and artificial selection and thus have many aberrant or functionless behaviors. If, however, we take a step back and evaluate vocal communication in domesticated dogs the way we would evaluate vocal communication in a wild animal the view becomes quite different (Field, 1975).

Using a sound-editing program, I then converted the digital recordings of 4672 barks to visual displays called spectrograms. A computer macro written by Dr. Brenda McCowan took 60 sequential frequency (pitch) measurements and 60 sequential amplitude measurements along the length of each bark and then recorded values such as minimum, maximum, mean frequency, start slope, finish slope, frequency range, amplitude range, bark duration and interbark interval for each bark.

Statistical analysis revealed that dog barks can be divided into different subtypes based on context and that individual dogs can be identified by their barks. Additional analysis revealed that disturbance barks tend to be harsh, low-frequency, and unmodulated whereas isolation and play barks tend to be tonal, higher-frequency, and modulated. [1]

The finding shows that there are barks that have specific functions that can be classified accordingly. It denotes that it needs a further studies and investigation to classify these functions and so that the ideas can be more explored. [2] Furthermore, barks varies in specific context that the humans should be able to recognize.[4]

Bow-lingual a gadget that can translate a dog barks into English. It is manufactured by Takara, the device records the dog barks, analyzes the frequency and categorize the bark to the pre-set mood accordingly. Interpretation also comes with an English-sentence translation. [3][4]

Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY

Process Input To understand our pet dog Analysis and interpretation of their actions and through mutual communication. Output Research Findings (Dog Bark Translator)

The figure shows the procedure done in this study to give humans a better understanding of dog behavior. For the input of this study states the aim of this study, the process shows how the researchers conduct the study and the output shows what is the result of the conducted study.

REFERENCES

Caparanga, A. R. (2000). Recycling and recovery of Poly(ethylene terephthalate) from post consumer waste stream, e-merge: the MIT Review, Volume 1 (1), 27-32.
2

Cardiel, G. G., et al, (2000). Preliminary engineering geological-geotechnical and instability risk assessment of slopes at Peace Village, Barangay San Luis, Antipolo, Rizal. Mapua Research Journal, Volume 1 (2), 79-84.
3

Doma, B. Jr. T., J. L. Salvacion and S.T. Yang (2000). Mass transfer and power consumption characteristics in rotating fibrous bed bioreactor for xanthan gum fermentation. Mapua Research Journal, Volume 1 (1), 27-41.
4

Scilling, R. J. and S. L. Harris (2000). Applied Numerical Methods for Engineers, 1st edition, Brooks/Cole, New York