Bottlenose dolphins use acoustic communication extensively. The signature-whistle hypothesis proposes that each dolphin has a distinct signature whistle with unique fundamental frequency contour and thus can be used for individual recognition. However, this hypothesis remains unproven. Besides the fundamental frequency contour, the amplitude envelope is also a feature which could potentially carry individual information. It is postulated that the most robust feature, which is least affected or changed by the environment, is most likely to carry the individual information. Fisher's Information can be used to evaluate the robustness of bottlenose dolphin whistles in a typical simple underwater acoustic environment. A comparison of the environmental effects on different features of bottlenose dolphin whistles will be presented.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 9733391.