Traditional / experimental practice

The Sound of the Universe · A Tremor in Space-Time

On 14 September 2015 the LIGO detectors caught a gravitational wave from the merger of two black holes 1.3 billion light years away: GW150914. The signal is a 'chirp' climbing from 35 Hz to 250 Hz in 0.2 seconds. In this part the last cycles measured from the Hanford detector's open data, together with the theoretical shape that matches them, are heard four times, an octave up and stretched in time 200, 100, 50 and 25 times. The strain is far too small for the ear (about 10⁻²¹); what you hear is its frequency and amplitude track. This is a sonification, not a recording from space: data or measured numbers were turned into sound with a stated mapping. There is no claim of any effect.

6 minNo headphones neededEvidence level S: Soundscape, no claim

Liner notes

Bed: Brown noise, Pink noise
Body: Pure tone · 70 Hz
What do you hear?: swelling · hissy

3 layers, 2 sound engines; generated on this device every time it plays.

How is this sound made?

Brown noise−38 dB
Pink noise−48 dB
Pure tone−24 dB
Pure tone · 70 Hz

Reverb: hall, 25% mix

In the room you can listen to each layer on its own, change its settings and save it as your own recipe.

Sound is generated on this device in real time; no files are downloaded from a server. There is a 3 s fade-in at the start and a 0 min fade-out at the end.

Compare with another sound

Hear both at the same loudness; drag the slider to the middle and they blend.

These two sounds can't share one recipe (different tuning or effects): listen to the samples one after the other.

B: neighbours on the map

Another sound

What do we know, what don't we know?

S · Soundscape, no claim

No health or mental-effect claim at all; it is simply a soundscape.

This session isn't linked to any claim of effect.

A session's level is the weakest of its linked claims; it is never raised by a strong but unrelated claim.

Its neighbours on the map

The five sounds closest to this one by measured sound features.

See on the map

Keep your device volume comfortable, preferably below 60%. You can also use your device's headphone-safety settings.