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"Recent years have seen a worsening in the decline of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) colonies. This phenomenon has sparked a great amount of attention regarding the need for intense bee hive monitoring, in order to identify possible causes, and design corresponding countermeasures. Honey bees have a key role in pollination services of both cultivated and spontaneous flora, and the increase in bee mortality could lead to an ecological and economical damage. Despite many smart monitoring systems for honey bees and bee hives, relying on different sensors and measured quantities, have been proposed over the years, the most promising ones are based on sound analysis. Sounds are used by the bees to communicate within the hive, and their analysis can reveal useful information to understand the colony health status and to detect sudden variations, just by using a simple microphone and an acquisition system. The work here presented aims to provide a review of the most interesting approaches proposed over the years for honey bees sound analysis and the type of knowledge about bees that can be extracted from sounds."

"Researchers from Nottingham Trent University, in the United Kingdom, have now developed and tested a new prototype device that can remotely monitor hive activity without disturbing the bees. The device picks up and analyzes vibrations from special types of bee vocalizations, such as the common one called a "begging signal." It has successfully tracked changes in bee activity from day to night, and seasonally, by monitoring the occurrences of this specific signal."

"Honey bees are one of the treasures in the world. An increase of waveform communication leads to good information exchange of mankind. In the biological view, it causes a lot of side effects and lifestyle changes in other living organisms. The drastic changes are causing the natural imbalance in the ecosystem and become a global issue. There are significant reasons for bee colony collapse disorder (CCD) like pesticides, disease and climate change. Recent studies reveal that a cell phone tower and mobile phone handset are also causing side effects to honey bees due to radiation emission. Most of the researchers concentrated on biological and behavioral changes in a honey bee due to radiation effects. For that, the real-time radiation levels have experimented but the different technical perspectives such as radiation emission levels, handset radiation emission measures and multi-sources of radiation are needed to be considered during research. This study aimed to provide possible research extensions of colony collapse disordercaused by cell tower and mobile handsets."

"We had a joke in the studio that they were the best band members we've ever had," laughs Kev Bales when describing the recording of Be's One album. Bales may have spent the last 30 years drumming with the likes of Spiritualized, Soulsavers and Julian Cope, but the musicians he's referring to here are a different kind of buzz band altogether: to be precise, they're 40,000 bees, and their activity forms the basis of One, a transcendental drone symphony between man and bee that is surely one of the year's most beguiling offerings."

""I can hear how the bees are behaving - if they're agitated, if there are other bees trying to get in the hive, or if it's too crowded or too hot or too cold," said Aerial Gilbert, an avid beekeeper in Petaluma. What you want to hear, she said, is a calm steady buzz. That indicates that everything in the hive is going smoothly."

"Artist Jana Winderen transports us underwater, to listen to the sonic wonders of the sea."

"I can hear how the bees are behaving - if they're agitated, if there are other bees trying to get in the hive, or if it's too crowded or too hot or too cold," said Aerial Gilbert, an avid beekeeper in Petaluma."

"Exclusively composed with/from recordings of bees in the Olivier Darné's hives, located in Saint-Denis, suburb of Paris Going over bee, ears in the wind, we feel the density of real and also throw ourself into this dance of oscillations. From the site specific installation, commissioned by Les Instants Chavirès (France) for La Brasserie Bouchoule during Lieux Communs festival 2007"

BEES and sound

"Step inside the world of Bioni Samp, an urban beekeeper who makes honey - and music - from his bees. This immersive 360 profile takes you deep inside the beehive. Peter Boyd Maclean's film uses cinematic narrative conventions with immersive sound and vision in order to intensify the experience of becoming fully immersed in the story."

"They chased bees, raided junkyards and banged household objects. Now, half a century on, the Radiophonic Workshop are festival material. Meet the sound effect visionaries whose jobs came with a health warning"

"As he prepares for a performance, B&O PLAY visits London's Kew Gardens and meets the artist Wolfgang Buttress who tells us about his soon to be sonified sculptural installation, The Hive."

"It's a sonic phenomenon that occurs in only certain pockets of desert around the world. The sound of sand grains shuffling down hot slopes that can recall the angry buzz of bees or the deep, groaning thrums of a didgeridoo group. Scientists refer to these shifting dunes as "singing" or "booming" sands, which for centuries mystified explorers from Charles Darwin to Marco Polo. We know now that these strange sounds are caused by the vibrations of grains avalanching, at relatively slow speeds, down dunes, and that the grain size and speed influence the notes of these curious hums of nature."

"Sixteen bottles, each with its own air blower, stand arranged in a circle playing music. For his piece, and the wind was like the regret for what is no more, artist João Costa brings the wind indoors, translating its wild energy into simple sounds. "

"Asked to curate a night of insect music for Pestival at London's Southbank Centre, wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson thinks he may just have found a 15th-century iPod"