-->PONE-D-25-60793-->-->Vector Characteristics of the Sound Field Based on a Single Vector Hydrophone-->-->PLOS One

Dear Dr. Jia,

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Yufeng Zhou, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS One

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

-->Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented. -->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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-->2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? -->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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-->3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.-->

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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-->4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.-->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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-->5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)-->

Reviewer #1: The manuscript is closely related to underwater acoustics and vector sensor signal processing. It presents a large amount of experimental data and provides a relatively complete physical interpretation of coherence-based vector features. However, the work is essentially descriptive and phenomenological, and several theoretical assumptions, methodological details, and quantitative justifications still require clarification or strengthening before it meets publication standards.

Major Concerns

1. Lack of mathematical rigor in key assumptions

Several critical assumptions are not sufficiently justified: the energy decomposition formula implicitly assumes statistical independence between coherent and diffuse components; interpreting the coherence function directly as an energy proportion relies on certain prerequisites. These assumptions are neither explicitly stated nor discussed in terms of their applicability limits.

2. Insufficient quantitative evaluation

Most conclusions are based on qualitative trends shown in the figures, lacking quantitative metrics to substantiate the claimed performance improvement. At least one quantitative detection performance metric should be added to support the assertion of “performance enhancement.”

3. Unclear relationship to existing detection methods

Although the manuscript claims that vector features can be used for target detection, it does not compare the proposed coherence-based method with established approaches (e.g., pressure-only spectral detection or intensity-based detection).

Minor Comment

4. While generally readable, the English expression contains repetitive phrasing, and the discussion section could be further refined. Professional language editing is recommended.

Reviewer #2: The manuscript entitled “Vector Characteristics of the Sound Field Based on a Single Vector Hydrophone” presents a comprehensive investigation of vector acoustic field characteristics obtained from a single vector hydrophone. The authors systematically analyze coherence functions, energy component proportions, and phase spectrum characteristics, supported by theoretical simulations as well as anechoic pool, shallow-sea, and deep-sea experimental validations.

I believe the manuscript is basically sound and publishable, and only minor revisions are required to further improve clarity, rigor, and presentation quality.

1. The manuscript defines an “overall coherence function” by summing coherence contributions from three orthogonal velocity components. What is the physical justification for this aggregation? It would be better to add some explanations about the Eq.4.

2. On page 6, the simulations assume additive white Gaussian noise independent of the signal. How sensitive are the reported coherence thresholds and energy decomposition results to this assumption? Would correlated or directional ambient noise significantly alter the conclusions?

3. Coherence values are presented as smooth curves averaged over frequency in Fig.6. What is the temporal averaging length used in the estimation? How stable are these coherence estimates under shorter observation times?

4. In shallow-sea experiments, multipath propagation and boundary reflections are unavoidable. How do these effects influence the coherence function and phase spectrum, and how are they distinguished from target-induced coherence?

5. The conclusions suggest broad applicability of coherence and phase characteristics for target detection. What are the identified limitations of the proposed approach in terms of frequency band, source type, or environmental complexity?

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-->6. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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-->

Vector Characteristics of the Sound Field Based on a Single Vector Hydrophone

PONE-D-25-60793R1

Dear Dr. Jia,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Yufeng Zhou, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS One

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

-->Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.-->

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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-->2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented. -->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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-->3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? -->

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: Yes

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-->4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.-->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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-->5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.-->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

-->6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)-->

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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-->7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.-->

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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