Swiss start-up hears animals speak

Lorenz Keller

11.3.2026

Translation: Elicia Payne

When animals talk, the Swiss start-up Synature listens. Thanks to bioacoustics, ecosystems can be monitored without the need to see the birds, mammals or amphibians.

It was already clear to Olivier Stähli during his computer science studies at the University of Bern and the EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) that he wanted to combine his love of nature and the environment with his profession somehow. One of his university friends, Noah Schmid, was equally passionate about music and technology. So together, in 2024, they founded the start-up called Synature, which combines nature, acoustics and technology.

The idea behind the Lausanne-based company is to monitor ecosystems and animal populations. Synature relies on microphones and AI recognition to identify animal sounds and noises, like a camera trap for sounds.

15,000 species, one microphone

This year, Synature is launching an all-in-one solution with microphones and a cloud connection. The device looks like a wildlife camera trap hung on a tree. Instead of cameras, however, four high-quality microphones are installed that record sounds down to the ultrasonic range. Thanks to solar cells, the weatherproof device runs autonomously for months.

The recorded data is transmitted via mobile radio or Wi-Fi and analysed by a specially trained AI. You can call up a dashboard with all the information in a browser. The system currently recognises around 15,000 species of birds, bats, frogs, insects and mammals.

To confirm a species, you can listen to the sound recordings. «After recording in a nature reserve, we were able to detect two species that aren’t normally found there,» says Olivier Stähli. The reserve officers didn’t believe it at first. Thanks to the recordings, however, they were able to verify the two animal species.

From Switzerland to Ecuador

Where is Synature used? «For example, where there’s a need to monitor the impact of humans on nature,» says Olivier Stähli. For example, Synature set up sound traps following a river restoration project in Switzerland and detected over 200 animal species in the first year.

In Spain, the Swiss start-up monitored a solar park over an extended period of time and captured over 250 animal species with the microphone. This goes to show that nature and technology can coexist.

Synature has also provided microphones for monitoring wolves in Switzerland and for monitoring wildlife corridors, agroforestry and protected areas in Ecuador. You can listen to some examples of recordings from these projects on Synature’s Instagram page.

By the way, the company doesn’t sell its microphones, instead offering its service starting this year. You can rent the entire package for a period of time. Existing sound recordings can also be analysed with the Synature model.

A single microphone can measure the biodiversity of birds and mammals within a radius of one kilometre. Depending on the animal species, it might need to be closer.

Anyone concerned their confidential telephone conversations will be recorded in the nature reserve can rest assured. While the microphones pick up everything, human speech is filtered out and deleted immediately.

Lorenz Keller

Senior Editor

Lorenz.Keller@digitecgalaxus.ch

Gadgets are my passion - whether you need them for the home office, for the household, for sport and pleasure or for the smart home. Or, of course, for the big hobby next to the family, namely fishing.

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