Audio Classifier: what made the noise
The SiteHive Audio Classifier uses AI to identify site sounds automatically. It analyses the audio captured by SiteHive Hexanode devices and labels the likely sources in each clip, so you can monitor and control noise without listening to audio files one by one.
See it in action on the Dashboard, in the media timeline at the bottom of the screen on SiteHive Enviro Pro sites.
How to use the Audio Classifier
On a SiteHive Enviro Pro Dashboard:
Select the Monitoring Point.
If there is media for that Monitoring Point on that day, the media section appears in the bottom bar of the Dashboard (and in the Media tab of the graph view).
Review images and audio by dragging the media strip left and right, or with the arrows at its edges.
Each audio file carries one label naming the dominant predicted sound source, for example Hand Tools or Heavy Plant Or Vehicle Moving.
Labels are colour-coded: orange is construction-related, blue is non-construction, and grey means no clear classification. The label text names the source whatever its colour.
The timeline beneath the media marks when media was captured with small colour-coded squares. Click one to select that media item.
Explore media details
Double-click a media image, or click the expand icon at its bottom right.
This opens the Media Details window, where the audio and imagery can be explored in more detail and any additional classifications are shown. Its tabs also show the Direction of arrival of the noise and its spectrogram.
Categories and labels
Each audio file in SiteHive Enviro Pro is classified against a broad database of known sounds. There are top-level categories such as Human Activity, Animal Activity, Ports and Construction. Some categories, Construction in particular, have deep subsets of labels that say exactly what is happening on site: whether plant is idling, operating or moving, for example. A file can carry several labels; the most dominant sound is the primary label on the media strip and the first label in any list.
What is a spectrogram?
A spectrogram is a picture of the frequencies in a sound as they change over time. It shows the character of the noise across the recording, with the intensity of each frequency. In SiteHive Enviro Pro the spectrogram for each audio file is on the Spectrogram tab of Media Details, beside the camera image.
When you play an audio file, a white vertical line moves across the spectrogram from left to right, showing where the audio is up to.
The spectrogram forms the basis for the Audio Classifier by visually representing the differences between audio clips.
A siren:
A seagull:
A hydraulic hammer:
Interested in learning more about the SiteHive Audio Classifier? Watch the webinar here!
Audio Classifier for investigating events
The Audio Classifier is a crucial tool in event investigation. You can also see media and classifications on the Events page:
Open the Events page and select the event you want to investigate.
Click Investigate & Explain for the detail of the selected event.
Any media captured around the time of the event is shown; click it for the media details (image, DoA and spectrogram), as on the Dashboard.
💡 The classifier works on the audio your Hexanodes capture. To control when audio is captured, see Set up media triggers.
What's next
Events: investigate an exceedance (record, investigate and explain exceedances)
Direction of arrival (the second tab in Media Details)
Waveform classification: what caused the vibration (the same idea, for vibration)