This discussion makes me think of something we call conditions monitoring in the asset reliability world. We use vibration, thermal and oil analysis (and several more) to determine asset health (i.e. 4000HP motor health). This is how we listen to our equipment tells us if things are alright.

Vibration analysis can detect faint vibrations that will tell about the imminent deterioration of a bearing in a piece of equipment. (outer race defect...). We even use special motion cameras where vibration can be slowed and exaggerated (1 -x1000). Use multiple methods together to confirm issues and predict failure mode and intervals.

My background in the above and my success in using it to keep expensive assets running with minimal downtime and costs is one of the reasons I enjoy collecting data in beekeeping (temperatures/humidity, sounds/vibration, smells, bee guts, mite sampling, honey analysis, etc...).

The challenge is linking the measurement to something. We have 3 types of sounds/vibrations that I can think of.

1. Bees doing it on purpose - intentional response (i.e. Bee dance)
2. Bees doing it because of something - unintentional response (i.e. being queen less?)
3. External factors caused by something else (i.e. wood pecker pecking at the hive).
4....

Differentiating between 1 & 2 can be difficult. Are the bees doing it on purpose? e.g. bee dance describing location of nectar source in the dark (combination of movements & heat & vibrations & smells). A more agitated bee i.e. excited about the forage, will technically produce more heat. Is this part of how they communicate the quality of the forage or the potential new swarm home? Bees can see heat (IR) in the dark. Does the bee's temperature in combination with other factors (ie. smells) mean different things?

Is the "sounds" when being queen less a conscious or just an unintentional response to no longer having a queen? or just the resulting superorganism mood.

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