Auditory Event-Related Potential Features as Underwater Target Recognition Assessment

Ocean exploration demands increasing accuracy of underwater target recognition. However, subjective factors like experience or emotion are often not included in the recognition process. Auditory event-related potential (AERP) induced by underwater sound stimuli might reflect objective and subjective factors. Electrophysiological data were analyzed to examine the effects of stimulus type on AERP waveforms, power spectral density, and coherence. In the resultant waveforms, non-target-stimulus evoked negative deflection and forward shift of N1 and P2 components. Furthermore, the target-stimulus evoked P3 component. Different stimuli induced significant differences in the beta and gamma band spectral and connectivity parameters. This study demonstrates that AERP features can be the assessment for underwater acoustic target recognition.