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UX Research · UX Design
Designing quieter seas for Orca whales in the Salish Sea
UX for oceans: Research led marine conservation
Role
UX Research
UX Design
Skills
Desk Research
Research Study
Journey Mapping
Solution Conceptualization
Duration
Ongoing
Brief
Orcasound is a nonprofit connecting people to live underwater soundscapes
(via hydrophones) to study and conserve orcas in the Salish Sea. For Orcasound's Shipnoise project, our goal has been to design and develop innovative ways to protect this species by mitigating what impacts their habitat- underwater noise pollution generated by commercial cargo ships.
My Role
As a UX Researcher on the Shipnoise project:
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I designed a research study plan for key maritime personas- to understand their roles, day-to-day tasks and uncover leverage points within their journey where our solution could be embedded.
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I assisted the UXR lead with participant recruitment for our study.
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Worked alongside 3 teammates to develop an interface that gives maritime pilots and captains access to audio recordings of what their ship sounds like underwater so they can then adjust noise levels near orca habitats.
My Impact
Deployment of Shipnoise will drive sustained reductions in underwater vessel noise, improving communication, foraging success, and survival
of Orca whales.
Who we're designing for and why..
Ship route into the Salish Sea
Current Orcasound hydrophone locations
Salish Sea
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The problem
Endangered Orcas in the Salish Sea face escalating underwater commercial ship noise that disrupts their communication and survival; this acoustic pollution continues to push them closer to extinction.
The challenge
The lack of broader awareness, real-time monitoring, and coordinated action among Orcasound and maritime stakeholders to curb vessel noise and impacts.
A measurable reduction in the ship-generated decibel levels recorded by Orcasound hydrophones in the Salish Sea.
Projected outcome
Research goals
01
Identify and leverage Orcasound’s existing and growing suite of platforms, network partnerships,
and tech solutions.
Understand day-to-day workflows and responsibilities of maritime personas to identify where a solution can meaningfully integrate into their existing practices
02
Overarching goal:
Help quieten the waters of the Salish Sea by reducing commercial vessel noise, so Orcas (also referred to as the Southern Resident killer whales) can reclaim a healthy, livable soundscape
6 key maritime personas
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Ship Captain
Employed by a shipping company to physically pilot a commercial ship. Holds responsibility for the vessel, crew, cargo, and navigation decisions through voyage.
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Pilot
Boards ships near Port Angeles to safely guide them through the Salish Sea, advising on course and speed.
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Shipping Agent
Coordinates arrivals, documentation, and communication between captains, pilots, tugs, and ports before and after voyages in the Salish Sea.
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Watchstander
Creates daily reports of scheduled vessels in the Salish Sea. Receives information from a variety of sources and provides it to those who need it.
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Coastguard
Monitors commercial ships by radar, AIS, and strategically placed cameras around the port. Communicate via radio with bridge of commercial ships.
What the ecosystem looks like right now
What a commercial ship journey map looks like...
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Recap of the challenge
Prior research undertaken by the team indicated that...
Pilots could most directly support our solution (and have expressed their desire to), because they are physically on board and our intervention could be seamlessly embedded into their everyday workflows and decision-making.
Pilot
Shipnoise solution
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* Previously, we interviewed a former Ship Captain, an Agent, a Pilot, and various representatives from nonprofits.
Solution prioritization workshop led to..
Pursuing a solution that leverages Orcasound’s existing resources, such as hydrophones.
We explored using pre‑recorded underwater audio of ship sounds captured by these hydrophones to help bridge a key gap: there was no dedicated tool to help commercial ship pilots understand or reduce the noise their vessels generate for endangered orcas.
We also saw the need for a collaborative learning space for all maritime stakeholders, so that responsibility is shared, not isolated.
We had to abandon ideas like live tracking of ship sounds due to limited connectivity at sea, thus pushing us toward solutions that work reliably in low‑ or offline conditions (like pre-recorded audios)
The Shipnoise tool
To be able to effectively guide ships to slow down, Pilots must know exactly how the ship they are piloting sounds.
This tool aims to present acoustic sound visualizations in an easy-to-understand manner for pilots to hear pre and post voyage. This would improve the uptake of acoustic data for more impactful decision-making.
Democratization
What this would also help with
How it works
Post deployment, this tool will be shared with the Pilots in Orcasound's network. Further adoption will grow through word of mouth.
First-time users of this tool (who would primarily be the 5 maritime personas we spoke of earlier) will see a pop-up asking if they’d like to opt in as research participants for our ongoing UX studies on how to continuously improve this tool.
Projected KPIs for this tool
Identify and record 50+ cases where pilots lowered speed for noise-related reasons
Behavior change
Lower average decibel levels per ship by at least 5–6 dB, as recorded by Orcasound’s hydrophones
Acoustic change
What we're up to now
The Shipnoise tool is currently being developed so it can be deployed and made accessible to as many maritime stakeholders as possible. In parallel, we’re deepening our understanding of other key personas in the ecosystem (Watch Stander, Pilot, Ship Captain, Shipping Agent, Coast Guard Operator) and how they can support our conservation efforts.
So far, our personas are based on a small number of interviews, which makes them unreliable as stand-ins for broader user needs and behaviors. Because they were synthesized without reaching data saturation, they risk misguiding solution design and development. To ensure Shipnoise remains effective, relevant, and truly user-centered, we now need to conduct more formal UX research with a sufficient number of participants. This will help us validate, refine, and strengthen our personas so they more accurately reflect the real goals, pain points, and workflows of our stakeholders.
Our immediate goal is to continue research and recruit more participants.
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Since we're a not-for-profit organization, more often than not, research buy-in, participant recruitment, overall progress have been significant challenges. This has made our work slow and difficult at times but on a positive note, it has pushed me to adapt to challenges that come our way, think of ways to work around issues and pivot multiple times but its helped me come up with things to do.
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Here I also I learnt that 'Social validation is sometimes a more powerful driver of positive behavioral change.' This is something I had never thought about previously.
My learnings on this project
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