A comparison of the Avisoft (5.2) and Ultravox (2.0) recording systems: Implications for early-life communication and...

Alterations in early-life communicative behaviors are a common feature of neurodevelopmental conditions, such as autism and epilepsy. One method of investigating communication in murine models is through analyzing ultrasonic vocalizations. These vocalizations are commonly recorded with either the Avisoft or the Ultravox recording programs. However, since no study has compared whether the systems are equally sensitive, the findings in one program may not be reproducible in the other. To directly compare the two programs, we elicited vocalizations from male and female 129SvEvTac and C57BL/6 mouse pups via the maternal isolation paradigm, recording vocalizations simultaneously with both systems. We held the detection parameters identical for each system and found that there was only a medium correlation between Avisoft and Ultravox overall. Further analysis indicated that Avisoft detected more total vocalizations, as well as more vocalizations at the set frequencies of 50, 60, and 70 kHz than Ultravox, p <  .05. No statistically significant difference was present at 80 kHz. These findings demonstrate that different recording systems do not detect the same quantity of vocalizations as one another, even when detection parameters are congruent. Therefore, it may be useful to revisit previous negative results obtained with Ultravox and repeat the experiments using Avisoft. Ultimately, ultrasonic vocalizations are a valuable tool, capable of examining early-life phenotypes. However, a more thorough understanding of the relationships between recording systems is necessary to achieve a more comprehensive and reproducible assessment of vocalizing behaviors.