## 🚀 Introduction

**☀️ [Bonus Problem](https://www.kaggle.com/competitions/im-hard-to-spot) is LIVE NOW!!**

🌊 The deep blue sea is home to a plethora of fascinating and mysterious creatures. Sound is the fundamental way these giants communicate with each other, but much of their communication remains a mystery to scientists. 

🧩 Scientists have been fascinated by these humongous mammals for many decades, and their vocalizations have been a particularly intriguing area of study. Yes, You got it right! We are talking about Blue whales 🐋. 

🎶 They are highly intelligent and social species who are known for their low-frequency, repetitive "songs" that can travel for thousands of miles through the ocean. These songs are thought to be used for communication between individual whales, and they can change over time, with different populations singing different songs.

🔬 Studying the vocalizations of blue whales can provide valuable insights into the behaviour and communication patterns of these animals. This knowledge can also aid conservation efforts by helping scientists track and monitor blue whale populations.

🎛 However, researching blue whales' vocalization is not an easy task, and requires specialized equipment and expertise to collect and analyze the audio data. Additionally, blue whales are a rare and elusive species, making it challenging to obtain a large enough dataset to train accurate models.

🎯 In this competition, we invite you to help unlock the secrets of blue whale communication by **building models that can accurately identify various calls made by these creatures**. Your participation will not only be an exciting challenge, but also a valuable contribution to the field of marine biology and conservation efforts. So, put on your thinking caps, sharpen your machine learning skills and let's work together to understand these magnificent creatures better. Good luck!

➡️ **[REGISTER HERE](https://forms.gle/fyXABdTqATa1n52L6)** **(Deadline: 30th January 2023 - Extended)**
ℹ️ **Participants are requested to go through the [Rules](https://www.kaggle.com/competitions/datafestintegration2023/rules) carefully.**
⬇️ **Participants are requested to go through each of the informative sections below properly.**

## 🐳 Whale Vocalizations 

![An example of whale call spectrogram, for depiction purposes only](https://www.googleapis.com/download/storage/v1/b/kaggle-user-content/o/inbox%2F6668389%2Fe3818556da3bf2761196ba91ea08ff5f%2FScreenshot%202023-01-15%20at%2012.56.00%20PM.png?generation=1673767655080247&alt=media)
*Visualization of whale songs*

There are various types of whale vocalizations. The different types of vocalizations and their purposes are still not well understood, and ongoing research continues to uncover new insights into the vocal behaviour of these fascinating animals. Here we focus on a specific vocalization,

🐋 **A Calls**: They are characterized by a low-frequency, ***repetitive pattern of pulses*** that are typically around ***70-90 Hz in frequency***. These calls are known to be used for long-distance communication between individual whales and can be heard over large distances. They are typically produced by adult males and can last for several minutes. 

Read more on other types of Whale vocalizations at the links given under the Important Links Section.

## 💡 Helper Code & Hints 

We know many of you might not have worked with sound data before and we are there to provide the necessary help for you to make progress. 

🧗🏻 **Browse through the important links below for getting warmed up.**

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🚧 We will be uploading helper codes on [Code section](https://www.kaggle.com/competitions/datafestintegration2023/code).

🔆 **[HELPER CODE 01](https://www.kaggle.com/code/rishideychowdhury/helper-code-01)**: Working with Audio Data, Visualizing and Listening up.

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👀 **Keep checking here for regular updates on hints.**

🛠 **HINT 0**: To make a prediction on whether an A call is present or not, you need to know **What is an A call?** **What is the duration of an A call and the frequency range of an A call?** (A brief description can be found in the above discussion and in the important links below)

🛠 **HINT 1**: Spectrograms are very useful for audio data. **How does an A call differ from a Non-A call?** Can we use that to our advantage?

## 🌟 Bonus Problem

⏱ **Bonus Problem Release Date: 22nd January, 2023 at 11:00 PM IST**

↗️ Visit the bonus problem page: [I'm Hard to Spot](https://www.kaggle.com/competitions/im-hard-to-spot)
- Submission to this challenge is not a prerequisite for evaluation of the solution submitted to the bonus problem. 
- Grading of this challenge and the bonus problem would be done independently.
- A weighted average of the scores obtained on both this challenge and the bonus problem will be taken as the final score, with the weight of the bonus problem strictly greater than this challenge.


### 🔗 Important Links

- Inspiration Video for the challenge [Fathom — Official Trailer | Apple TV+](https://youtu.be/Y-Mmnk0LZLU). 
  - It is definitely a must-watch!
- Wikipedia page on [Whale Vocalizations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_vocalization). 
  - Great for listening to audio samples of various whales from across the oceans of the world.
- [Different patterns in Whale Vocalizations](https://www.mbari.org/news/patterns-in-blue-whale-songs-show-whether-the-whales-are-feeding-or-migrating/) observed in deep sea hydrophones. 
  - **Check the video near the end for the sound patterns corresponding to A calls and other whale calls.**
- Techniques adopted in a previous [Right Whale Detection Challenge](https://www.kaggle.com/competitions/whale-detection-challenge). 
  - **Very useful for getting some initial directions to start working.*