Wildlife Acoustics Echo Meter Touch User manual

1!Overview!
1.1 ! Echo'Meter'Touch'Ultrasonic'Modules !
1.2 ! App'Features !
1.3 ! Leave'Feedback'or'Review'the'App !
2!Using Echo Meter Touch!
2.1 ! Connecting'the'Ultrasonic'Module !
2.2 ! Navigating'the'app !
2.3 ! Monitoring'in'Live'Mode !
2.4 ! Configuring'Auto-ID !
2.5 ! Recording'in'Live'Mode !
2.6 ! The'Recording'List !
2.7 ! Viewing'Spectrograms'of'Recordings !
2.8 ! GPS'View !
2.9 ! Advanced'Settings'Screen !
2.10 ! Restore'Defaults !
3!Recordings!
3.1 ! Filenames'for'Recordings !
3.2 ! Metadata'Tags'for'Recordings !
3.3 ! Sharing'Recordings'via'Email'or'Text'Message !
3.4 ! Backing'Up'Recordings !
3.5 ! Transferring'Recordings'to'a'Computer !
3.6 ! Importing'Recordings !
3.7 ! Analysis'Software !
4!Specifications!
4.1 ! Physical !
4.2 ! Audio !
4.3 ! Storage'Requirements !
4.4 ! Android'Device'Compatibility !
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 micro-
USB 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.
'

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
off
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

real time. Use this mode to examine the timing between
previous bat echolocations. Because the signals scroll too
quickly, this mode is not recommended for monitoring.
Tap the STOP button to stop streaming data and put the
Ultrasonic Module into a low-power state. Press START to
resume.
2.4 Configuring'Auto-ID'
Enter Auto ID mode to view a list of available regions. Current
regions are North America, Europe and United Kingdom, and
Neotropics. There is also a South African region that is in
beta. Check a region to select all bats in that region. Tap a
region to learn more about the species and to select only bats
in your area.
A dropdown menu allows you to easily select only bats in
your North American state or Canadian province.
Toggle between
Compressed and
Expanded Mode
(Expanded shown)
Select region

After you select the bats to identify, you can automatically
identify them in LIVE MODE.
2.5 Recording'in'Live'Mode'
There are two methods of initiating a recording; using triggers
and manually. Using triggered recording, a recording is
triggered only when bat activity is detected and is ended
when there is no activity or 15 seconds have elapsed,
whichever comes first. As long as recording is turned on, the
device records automatically when bats are present, even
when the app is running in the background. There is also a
small manual record button which you can use to initiate a
recording. This can be used on its own or while triggered
recording is activated if the trigger misses something. When
you press the manual button, a recording starts 5 seconds
back in time and continues until you hit the button again or
Tap a species to learn
more about the
species or view the
Merlin Tuttle portrait.
Use dropdown to
select only bats in
your area for most
accurate results
Grey checks indicate
the species is in your
area but the app
can’t yet identify it.

15 total minutes is reached. The NOISE filter will not act on
manual recordings and Auto-ID will only run in real time if the
length is under 60 seconds.
During triggered recording, the Trigger Minimum Frequency,
in the Spectrogram Settings panel, should be set as high as
possible but lower than any expected bat echolocation. For
North America and the UK, 12 kHz works well. Lower
frequency signals will not initiate a recording. The Threshold
can be set between 6 kHz and 60 kHz.
During recording, animation appears around the Record
button. A white outline forms around the recording on the
spectrogram when a recording is in process. In addition, a
glowing red orb appears on all title bars in the app when
recording is activated and glows green when a recording is
triggered. The duration of the current recording is shown to
the right of the orb. Using triggered recording, the duration
of the current session is shown and using manual recording,
the duration of the current recording is shown. At the
conclusion of the recording, a label shows the filename. Tap
appropriate icon in the label to:
■ Identify the species of bat automatically, or override the
species tag.
■ Append voice or text notes to that recording.
■ Navigate to the recording location in GPS view.
■ Delete the recording.
Recordings with no bat detected are automatically tagged as
“NOISE” and automatically deleted. You can choose to not
auto-delete NOISE files in the Advanced Settings screen.
Using triggered recording, each time you press the Record
button a session is started. The session is concluded when
you toggle recording off. Each session is given a distinctive
color bar in the recording List and as a path in GPS View. An
option in the Advanced Settings screen organizes sessions

into nightly sessions (noon to noon) regardless of the number
of times recording is stopped and started. Each nightly
session exports in its own folder with its own KML file.
Using manual recording, the app automatically uses nightly
session mode for those recordings so as to avoid making a
folder for every recording.
The recording timer at the top of the screen starts at the
beginning of triggered recording session. Or at the beginning
of a manual recording. If a manual recording is made during a
triggered recording session, then after the manual recording
is over, the timer returns to the elapsed time for the triggered
session rather than restarting.
The top two bat’s scientific and common names appear in the
Auto-ID pop-up, which is shown for 10 seconds after
identification. This is not intended to ID two species of bats
that might appear simultaneously in a recording, though it
might in some circumstances. It is intended to give more
information in order to help you make the best ID possible
and also to allow you to see common confusions so you can
learn the ID’s limitations. You can select the runner-up species
on the Auto-ID pop-up to immediately tag the recording with
that bat instead of the front-runner. Click on the “i" icon to
learn more about that species. If you know that both species
are incorrect, select “CHOOSE ID FROM LIST” to label the
recording with any other selected species of bat. The Auto-ID
pop-up also shows the ratio of echolocation calls of the top
bat to the total detected calls. This helps give a sense of
confidence in the identification.
You can also run ID on one or all recordings from the
recording list or while viewing spectrograms from the icon in
the recording label. Each recording takes a second or two to
identify. If Real Time ID is set on, the app will not be able to
trigger for a couple seconds following a recording while ID
takes place. The species code or No_ID is assigned as a prefix

to the recording name. You can rerun Auto-ID if you should
choose to select different bat species to ID. In addition, from
the recording you can choose another label from your
selected bat species by pressing the yellow bat in the
recording label.
Tap the recording label icon to open the NOTES page. Voice
and text notes are saved as metadata in the recording so they
can be transferred with the recording to a computer.
Triggered recording
and/or manual
recording
Auto-ID pop-up
Recording timer
Click to label
recording with
alternate bat
Label recording with
another species of bat
Learn more about bat
species

2.6 The'Recording'List'
Here you can see a list of all of your recordings. The list can
be sorted by Time or Species. The latter is useful to sort by
species for identified recordings or to sort out noise or NO_ID
recordings. Tapping again will reverse the sort order. Tap
on a recording in the list to view the spectrogram or leave
notes. If you are monitoring and recording in the background
you will be advised that you are leaving Live Mode.
Tap the Edit button at the top right to delete recordings,
transfer recordings to your computer via Wi-Fi, share
recordings or identify the bat species in the recordings. Press
a box to individually ‘check it’ in the list. You can select
multiple recordings from the list by checking the box of any
recording, then pressing and holding the checkbox of any
Record voice note:
tap to start and stop
Write text note
Save Note

recording above or below. This will check all boxes in
between.
Press the Summary button to show a pop up screen with the
number of recordings with each identified species, NO_IDs,
and the NOISE files. This will summarize all recordings if none
are checked, or a subset if only some have been selected with
the checkboxes.
Icons indicate
recordings with voice
or text notes and
recordings with an
identified species
Delete checked recordings
Exit Edit mode
Colored recording
session identifier
Show summary pop-
up

The app has a limit of 10,000 recordings and recordings will
need to be transferred or deleted to activate recordings once
that limit has been reached.
2.7 Viewing'Spectrograms'of'Recordings'
Tap a recording from the Recordings list or from GPS view to
view the spectrogram of the recording, leave a voice or text
note, identify the bat, and listen to the recording. You can
listen using RTE, (HET), or Time Expansion (TE) playback. Use
TE to play the recording at a slow speed that renders
ultrasound into audible sound. In compressed view, you will
only hear visible signals during playback, not the space in
between echolocations. For HET and RTE, the playback occurs
on all samples as though expanded view is selected, whether
in compressed or expanded view. This lets you hear exactly
how the bat would have sounded in live mode. As in Live
Mode, heterodyne can be tuned automatically or manually.
Check individually
Transfer checked
recordings via Wi-Fi
or share via Email or
MMS
Identify checked
recordings
Check all recordings

Press the up or down buttons to go to the next or previous
recording in the recording list. The order of the recordings will
match the sorting chosen in the list. Colored vertical bars at
the beginning of each recording show the corresponding
recording session and match the color shown in the recording
list as well as the path in GPS view.
You can filter the audio for better fidelity as in Live Mode by
zooming to only the frequencies of interest.
Spectrograph settings are available as in LIVE MODE.
Scroll and Zoom
spectrogram or
waveform as in Live
Mode
Playback
Choose RTE, HET, or
TE
Recording label -
write/edit notes, run
ID, delete file or go to
map view
Go to next or
previous recording in
the list

2.8 GPS'View'
In GPS VIEW, you can see the locations of recordings and
species ID and the track of your recording session on a map.
Each recording session is shown with a different path color.
NOISE files are not shown in GPS view.
A KML file is generated and stored with the session
recordings in the session folder. If any recording from a
recording session is transferred via Wi-Fi, a KML file will be
included in the session folder with all recording’s waypoints
shown. You can also download the files through a USB cable
as described in this User Guide. KML files can be opened
directly in Google Earth to show the recording locations,
species IDs and recording path
Tap to go to
recordings
Toggle between map
and satellite views
Zoom or scroll map
view
Center and follow
mode