ASA/ANSI S3.20-2015 (R2025): Bioacoustical Terminology
Hearing science—the study of how sound is converted into neural signals—helps us understand how we hear, communicate, and interact with the world around us. By bridging acoustics, neuroscience, and psychology, this field drives innovations in hearing aids, cochlear implants, speech recognition, and hearing healthcare. As our understanding of hearing continues to grow, so does the need for a common scientific language. ASA/ANSI S3.20-2015 (R2025), Bioacoustical Terminology establishes standardized definitions for the specialized terms used in bioacoustics, enabling researchers, clinicians, engineers, and manufacturers to collaborate more effectively and advance innovation.
What Is Bioacoustics?
Bioacoustics is the study of how living organisms produce, transmit, and perceive sound. While the field often includes research on animal communication, ASA/ANSI S3.20-2015 (R2025) focuses specifically on human bioacoustics, including the science of hearing, speech, and the physiological and psychological processes involved in sound perception.
Applications of Human Bioacoustics
The field supports numerous applications, including:
- Hearing healthcare
- Audiology and hearing testing
- Speech-language pathology
- Medical research
- Hearing protection
- Consumer audio technologies
- Communication systems
- Acoustic research
As technology advances, bioacoustics continues to play an increasingly important role in healthcare, assistive devices, artificial intelligence, and speech recognition.
What Is ASA/ANSI S3.20-2015 (R2025)?
ASA/ANSI S3.20-2015 (R2025) provides definitions for a wide variety of terms used in human bioacoustics, including hearing, speech, psychoacoustics, and physiological acoustics. While this document is primarily focused on humans (hearing, speech, and psychoacoustics), its foundational acoustic terminology can also be directly applied in animal bioacoustics and underwater acoustics.
By providing consistent terminology across multiple scientific disciplines, the American National Standard helps assure researchers, clinicians, manufacturers, educators, and regulators are all speaking the same language.
Relationship to ANSI/ASA S1.1-2013 (R2024)
ASA/ANSI S3.20-2015 (R2025) is intended to supplement ANSI/ASA S1.1-2013 (R2024), Acoustical Terminology, in which more generally used terms in acoustics are defined, including a number of terms from physiological and psychological acoustics and music. Terms from ANSI/ASA S1.1-2013 (R2024) that are related to bioacoustics are included in this Standard as annexes.
The Role of Bioacoustics in Emerging Technologies
Bioacoustics is rapidly evolving through advances in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, cloud computing, and affordable acoustic sensors. What was once primarily a research tool for studying hearing and sound perception has expanded into applications ranging from healthcare, assistive technologies, biodiversity monitoring, and smart environmental systems.
Researchers can now deploy autonomous recording devices that continuously capture sound, while AI algorithms automatically analyze millions of audio recordings to identify patterns that would be nearly impossible for humans to detect manually. This shift is transforming bioacoustics from a largely observational science into one capable of providing real-time insights for healthcare, conservation, and scientific research.
Bioacoustics Is Shaping the Future of Healthcare Technology
The impact of these technologies is becoming increasingly significant. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 1 billion people worldwide experience some degree of hearing loss, and nearly 2.5 billion people are projected to have hearing loss by 2050. As demand for hearing healthcare continues to grow, innovations such as AI-powered hearing aids, cochlear implants, speech recognition systems, remote hearing assessments, and wearable health devices depend on a strong understanding of how humans produce, transmit, and perceive sound.
Standardized bioacoustical terminology helps assure that clinicians, engineers, manufacturers, and researchers communicate consistently throughout product development, clinical testing, and scientific research.
Bioacoustics Is Transforming Environmental Monitoring
Beyond human hearing, bioacoustics is also transforming environmental science. Autonomous recording systems and edge-computing devices now monitor forests, oceans, and other ecosystems around the clock, using AI to identify species, measure biodiversity, detect invasive species, and even recognize sounds of nature. Researchers describe this as a shift from passive observation to proactive, real-time environmental monitoring, with technologies capable of analyzing entire soundscapes at scales that were previously impractical.
The Importance of Standardized Terminology in Bioacoustics
Whether supporting hearing healthcare, advancing speech technologies, or enabling large-scale acoustic monitoring, bioacoustic innovations all rely on clear scientific communication. Standards such as ANSI/ASA S1.1-2013 (R2024) provide a common vocabulary that allows professionals across disciplines to interpret research consistently, collaborate more effectively, and accelerate innovation in the growing field of bioacoustics.
Where to Find ASA/ANSI S3.20-2015 (R2025)
ASA/ANSI S3.20-2015 (R2025), Bioacoustical Terminology is available on the ANSI Webstore.
ANSI/ASA S1.1-2013 (R2024) was developed by the Acoustical Society of America (ASA).
Please direct any technical questions relating to this American National Standard to the developer. You can find the contact information for all ANSI-accredited standards developers here: List of ANSI-Accredited Standards Developers (ASDs).
For further information, please refer to: Who to Contact for Standards Related Questions.
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