When Orcas call, we’re listening
OrcaHello is an AI-powered call listening system that makes round-the-clock acoustic monitoring of Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW) practical for the first time in the Puget Sound. What once required a dedicated team stationed at hydrophones 24/7 now takes expert moderators less than 10 minutes per day – even as coverage has expanded to 7 hydrophone locations across Puget Sound.
The system continuously analyzes live audio streams from hydrophones at multiple locations on the Orcasound network, picking up calls for human review. Behind the scenes, project scientists play an important role in confirming whale calls and species, correlating with other sources, and making go/no-go decisions about sending out alerts. When moderators confirm a visit, alerts go out to conservation partners who can answer the call: e.g. the Quiet Sound program – coordinating vessel traffic slowdowns, pausing construction – or informing researchers who study the whales.
Since launching in September 2020, OrcaHello has operated continuously for over 5 years, picking up confirmed calls on over 120 days. Expert moderations have also produced a unique dataset of 5,700+ minutes of curated hydrophone recordings – including 700+ minutes of confirmed orca calls alongside challenging anthropogenic sounds and other marine life – a valuable resource for bioacoustics research.
Greatest Hits Recordings
Links to a curated selection of moderated OrcaHello recordings.
| Orcas (SRKW) | |
| Jpod newborn first calls | Picked up at 1AM on Sep 18 2025, before visual sightings the next day. Written about in Maple Ridge News |
| JKL pod Nov 2025 | Eventful ~1hr “bout” with calls, vessel noise, human and machine detections on the Orcasound web-app |
| Jpod-2020, Jpod-2021, Jpod-2025 | Mix of high quality pod-specific calls over the years |
| Marine life | |
| River Otter | Splashing & squeaks. One of the first false positives after deployment in Sep 2020. |
| Bigg’s transient killer whale | Not to be confused with SRKW, sounds similar to a layperson |
| Humpback whale | Beautiful calls, lots of reverb |
| Seagulls, Pigeon Guillemot | Bird calls are also occasionally audible at low tide |
| Anthropogenic sounds | |
| Vessel noise (low intensity) | Container ship & some undersea chains |
| Boat, Mechanical winch | Can be confused for biological sounds |
| Ship drive shaft | Repetitive squeak from a ship’s drive shaft |
| Port Townsend bell bouy | Clangs possible activated by intermittent ship wakes passing |
For more – follow Orcasound on Bluesky, or listen to hydrophones live.
OrcaHello was originally developed by Microsoft volunteers through a $30K AI for Earth Innovation Grant and is now maintained by Orcasound founder Scott Veirs and project volunteers. The project is completely open-source.