Figure 1. Artificial song pattern of the cricket Gryllus bimaculatus and its temporal features.

Typically, a calling song consists of repetitive pulses that are grouped into chirps. The temporal structure of an artificial song pattern is fully determined by four descriptors, e.g. the duration and pause for both pulses and chirps. Four additional descriptors are frequently used to characterize cricket songs, namely the period (the sum of duration and pause), and the duty cycle (the ratio of duration and period) for both, the short and the long time scale.