Curious about what the Bay of Green Bay sounds like? Research being done by Associate Professor Bill Sallak will help answer that question.

Earlier this year, Sallak received a two-year grant from Wisconsin Sea Grant to study the bay’s bioacoustics. “It’s a field that’s growing in importance, and will help establish a baseline soundscape for the bay, he said.

The world’s largest freshwater estuary, the Bay of Green Bay, has been designated a National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR).

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Sallak, who leads percussion instruction in the Sharon J. Resch Institute of Music at UW-Green Bay and is coordinator of the Audio Production program, will take surround-sound field recording equipment to various locations in the bay throughout the year. Some recordings will be made in the same location during different seasons to create a year-round soundscape. He and his team also will look for interesting or evocative soundscapes.

“We certainly hope our recordings will have a home (at the NERR) as part of an ongoing public exhibit. We definitely want to share our recordings with the community.” Bill Sallak, associate professor, Sharon J. Resch Institute of Music.

The project will create a bioacoustic baseline from which to compare things like wildlife increases or decreases year-over-year.