What Does Sound Look Like?

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A while back, I speculated on what a Zentangle sounds like , and I came up with a way to convert Zentangles into sounds . Recently, I ran across an article that addresses the opposite question: what does sound look like? It turns out that, in some cases, it can look a lot like a Zentangle! The image at the top of this article is from cymascope.com , which explores the use of the Cymascope in visualizing sound with applications in art, physics, and biology, among others.

This field is called Cymatics , the study of wave phenomena, especially sound, and their visual representations. The term for this field of research was coined by Hans Jenny , a Swiss physician and scientist, in the 1960s.

Evan Grant gave an interesting TED Talk on Cymatics a few years ago.

The output of a cymascope looks like a Zentangle because if its complexity and because it is essential two-dimensional. There are other ways to visualize sound. The following video from Nigel Stanford shows some excellent examples.

Are you ready to give it a try? Here are some ideas to get you started!