Seismic sound lab

sights, sounds and perception of the earth as an acoustic space

Benjamin Holtzman

Jason Candler

Matthew Türk

Daniel Peter

pp. 161-174

in: Mitsuko Aramaki, Olivier Derrien, Richard Kronland-Martinet, Sølvi Ystad (eds), Sound, music, and motion, Berlin, Springer, 2014

Abstract

We construct a representation of earthquakes and global seismic waves through sound and animated images. The seismic wave field is the ensemble of elastic waves that propagate through the planet after an earthquake, emanating from the rupture on the fault. The sounds are made by time compression (i.e. speeding up) of seismic data with minimal additional processing. The animated images are renderings of numerical simulations of seismic wave propagation in the globe. Synchronized sounds and images reveal complex patterns and illustrate numerous aspects of the seismic wave field. These movies represent phenomena occurring far from the time and length scales normally accessible to us, creating a profound experience for the observer. The multi-sensory perception of these complex phenomena may also bring new insights to researchers.