# Extending WAAVES+: An animal and environment-agnostic, automated USV scoring platform for high-throughput social, behavioral, and neuropharmacological studies

> **NIH NIH R41** · CORNERSTONE RESEARCH GROUP, INC. · 2020 · $452,483

## Abstract

Project Summary
 Ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) are known to reflect emotional processing, brain neurochemistry and brain
function - key observations in animal model studies. Collecting and processing USV data is time-intensive,
manual, and costly. Most importantly, it limits researchers’ ability to employ fully effective, and nuanced
experimental designs, and is a barrier to entry for other researchers. Automated tabulation of rodent
vocalization data would reduce cost and enable researchers to fully explore mechanisms through multi-hour,
multi-session studies. Addressing this limitation will enhance the efficiency of research and could accelerate
new mental health advancements.
 Our overall goal is to serve a community-wide need for superior, automated USV scoring - alleviating the
manual burden of USV analyses while facilitating and enhancing rodent- and mouse-based emotional
processing research. Our specific objectives are to (a) develop an environment-agnostic, automated USV
scoring tool that works “out-of-the-box” without extensive tailoring or environment-specific training sets; (b)
automate call classification and expand the parameterization of acoustic properties to provide researchers with
additional data for investigating significant and behaviorally-relevant outcomes.
 This work will eliminate the cost and time barrier associated with USV-based research while simultaneously
expanding the quantity of relevant data. We conservatively estimate an annual cost savings in the $100Ks, if
not $1Ms. This work will form the foundation of a product that will enhance research throughput, reduce
treatment development time and cost, and allow researchers to design and implement more complex
experimental designs accelerating advancements addressing mental health disorders.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9983191
- **Project number:** 5R41MH121119-02
- **Recipient organization:** CORNERSTONE RESEARCH GROUP, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Catherine Ashley
- **Activity code:** R41 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $452,483
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-08-01 → 2021-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9983191

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9983191, Extending WAAVES+: An animal and environment-agnostic, automated USV scoring platform for high-throughput social, behavioral, and neuropharmacological studies (5R41MH121119-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9983191. Licensed CC0.

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