Making sense of sound

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Dec, 2007

Dive into the sonic soup: "Listen: Making Sense of I Sound" features almost 60 interactive exhibits, 40 of them brand new. Listen for the aural clues that evoke a sense of place--automatic doors and cash registers vs. teaspoons clinking against cups and espresso machines. Explore the physiological processes of hearing, human speech, and communication, and take a host of sonic journeys. Combining exhibits, activities, demonstrations, specially commissioned artist-created listening environments, as well as public programs, this exhibition invites visitors to experience--as never before--the nature of sound, the ways in which people and animals perceive sound, and, most importantly, how humans listen.

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This exhibition is a place to listen as a deer does when you try on alternative ears and learn the ways the shape and orientation of an animal's ears affect the sounds it hears--or, like a snake, listen with your teeth and jawbone. Navigate an underground train with a blind person as your guide. Swap the soundtracks of well-known movies to uncover the powerful influence of sound in creating mood.

The act of listening in this exhibition is the means and the ends to learning because sound, by its nature, carries information. Yet, there are many layers of meaning. What we hear is guided by physics--vibrations, materials, and space. What we hear is guided by our ears and brains--our physiology, memory, attention, listening conflicts, and synergies. What we hear is filtered by who we are--our choices, culture, and history. This exhibition summons them all through the ears. Among the demonstrations are Listening Walks, where visitors put on blindfolds to explore the rich, dynamic soundscape around them. Take a Silent Walk to experience a world without any sound at all, or cozy up to the Sound Cart, a gadget-filled station that lets you try experiments featuring a digital multitrack recorder, portable recording microphone, and frequency analyzer, among other interesting tools.

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The Listening Guide Theater provides insights from those who have developed exceptional listening skills and heightened awareness of sound in everyday life. Wildlife tracker Doniga Markegard interprets the language of nature; Dean Hudson--who is blind--navigates the world acoustically; instrument builder Bart Hopkin explores the physics of sound through music; car mechanic Lisa Miller diagnoses the automobile soundscape; and cochlear implant-wearer Michael Chorost listens with an electric ear.

In addition, three sound artists specially commissioned for the exhibition lend their unique auditory perspectives in new works: All Momeni's "What You Said, How You Said It" is a full-body interactive installation that invites you to listen, as diverse accents morph into one another. Nigel Helyer's "Listening Stick" is an interactive hunt for hidden sonic gems. Michelle Nagai's extraordinary device elicits and captures visitors' reflections on sound, listening, and the questions the exhibition provokes.

"Listen: Making Sense of Sound" is on exhibit through Dec. 31 at the Exploratorium: The Museum of Science, Art and Perception, San Francisco.

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