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Listening & Hearing
Aeolian Harp
An eerie orchestral chord floats on the breeze; it’s the shimmering sound of a 27-foot tall harp being strummed by the wind.
Where: Gallery 5: Outdoor Exhibits
Big Tuning Fork
Distinct tones combine in the hum of this tuning fork.
Echo Tube
Make a sound into the echo tube and listen for it to reflect back from the far end. You’ll hear a half-second delay, and strange distortions created by the journey.
Where: Gallery 5: Outdoor Exhibits
Echo Tubes
Experiment with echoes with these three long tubes. Why does a clap come back as a ping? What does it take to make a good echo?
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Find The Highest Note
This keyboard creates tones that seem to keep getting higher—forever.
Focused Conversation
This giant balloon bends sound waves just as a lens bends light.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Humming Plates
Sand reveals vibrations that are normally invisible.
Oscylinderscope
A piece consisting of a cylinder and guitar strings, that when plucked, demonstrate how strings behave when they vibrate to produce sound. Both the tension and the length of a string effect the frequency of vibration (pitch of the sound). Shorter or tighter strings vibrate faster to make higher tones and vice a versa, while the horizontal distance between the peaks and valleys of each wave reflects the loudness of the sound.
Out Quiet Yourself
As you walk across the gravel floor of this short tunnel, a sound meter measures your loudness and gives you a score. Can you beat your previous score? Can you beat your friends’ scores?
Pentaphone
Combine beats and melodies in a musical conversation.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Pitch Slider
The length of this vibrating rod affects the sound it makes.
Shhhh . . . Quiet
Sometimes no sound is what you want. At this exhibit, try to walk as quietly as possible across a bed of gravel. The gravel is studded with sound sensors, and each crunch adds unwanted points to your score on the monitor. Watch others, then see if you can beat their score.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Sound Bite
Bite down on a straw and listen to music that only you can hear, as sound travels to your inner ear via your teeth and bones.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
