Forget sightseeing. How about sound-hearing? At a time when visuals clamour more than ever for our attention, it's so easy to forget to listen to the world around us. And so many places sound even better than they look. Here are 14 of the most incredible sound destinations on earth, blessed with some truly weird and wonderful acoustics.
Amazing places with weird acoustics
1. Times Square, New York City, USA
Located at Broadway, between 45th and 46th, this permanent sound installation consists of a triangle of steel grates which generates unearthly humming sounds through a mixture of electronic sound generators, a loudspeaker and the noises of the subway, below. It was originally installed in 1977 and is the work of the late artist Max Neuhaus - a contemporary music maker and artist often credited with being the first person to use sound as their primary medium in contemporary art.
Neuhaus said that his intention was for the sound to be "plausible", dismissed as an "unusual machinery sound from below ground" and to be overlooked repeatedly until it is discovered by the viewer in a serendipitous way. But he also watched the area over webcam and tried to discourage street performers nearby as he was worried their sounds would interfere with Times Square. Now, 16 years after his death, it serves as a reminder of his eccentric imagination.
2. 'Forgotten Songs' Sound Sculpture, Sydney, Australia
Next on our list of sound destinations: suspended above Angel Place, a pedestrian lane in Sydney, is a canopy of 180 birdcages emitting a haunting soundscape of birdsong. ‘Forgotten Songs’, an installation by the Australian artist and architect Michael Hill, pays tribute to the calls of 50 birds that once lived in what is now inner city Sydney before the arrival of Europeans to Australia brought the beginnings of urbanization to the area in the late 1700s.
The audio mirrors the natural rhythm of avian life – dawn brings morning choruses, transitioning to nocturnal species after sunset. Located just metres away from from one of Sydney’s busiest shopping districts, it’s a real oasis of calm.
3. Klankenbos Sound Forest, Neerpelt, Belgium
Step into a massive cylindrical chamber where invisible sonar pulses ripple through the air around you. Sit between a pair of audio-enhancing devices that magnify even the faintest nearby sounds. Immerse yourself in a transparent, tunnel-shaped enclosure that blocks out the forest's ambient sounds, enveloping you in an otherworldly quiet. Enter ageing wooden shelters that hum with energy, as if alive.
This is Klankenbos Sound Forest, a well-trodden path in Neerpelt, Belgium, consisting of 17 different installations that have manipulated sounds in all sorts of surreal ways. It’s free and open to the public, occasionally featuring temporary exhibitions in addition to the permanent structures.
4. Music Box Village, New Orleans, USA
Now this is surely one of the most flamboyant of sound destinations. Designed collectively by over 80 artists and builders, this colourful shanty town pieced together from found objects contains interactive “musical houses”. Each treehouse and Creole cottage-inspired structure is actually a musical instrument that can be played in all sorts of unusual ways — by walking on floorboards, opening sliding doors, or playing columns made of chimes.
Music Box Village was inspired by the everyday presence of music in New Orleans, and by the city’s under-celebrated class of tinkerers, inventors and avant-garde musicians. Today it plays host to artist residencies, performances, panels, as well as visitors for exploration and play. It also presents live concert performances, ranging from orchestral concerts to - some years back - the ‘Bee Opera’ - a work that told the story of how bees crown a new queen.
5. Bench of Whispers, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Set in the lush environs of Alameda Park in the pilgrimage city of Santiago de Compostela, northern Spain, this bench may look unassuming, but it has remarkable acoustic properties. Thanks to its semicircular design and position, even a whisper spoken at one end will travel clearly and distinctly to the opposite end, potentially becoming amplified in the process.
Added to the park in 1916, the Bench of Whispers became a famous spot for lovers’ meetings during the Franco years, when a stringent moral code heavily restricted public displays of affection and interactions between unmarried couples. At a time when touching or even speaking in public was forbidden, the opportunity to share a few whispered romantic words on a park bench was not to be sniffed at.
6. 'A Sound Garden', Seattle, USA
Located on a hill on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grounds in Seattle, this huge sound sculpture is made up of 12 steel tower structures, from each of which hangs an organ pipe attached to a weather vane. As the wind blows through them, they generate a wide variety of soft-toned sounds - whistling, moaning and howling - depending on how fast the wind is blowing and in which direction.
The work of artist Douglas Hollis, who has done many other aeolian public art projects, including Singing Bridges on the Niagara River, it’s both beautiful - and just a little bit spooky.
7. Greatstone Sound Mirrors, Greatstone, Kent, UK
Built between 1927-30, these huge acoustic mirrors formed part of Britain’s national defence strategy: during potential air raids, these structures acted like giant ears. Their curved shape gathered sound waves from the sky over the English Channel, amplifying them and focusing them onto a microphone placed at the front.
This allowed for early detection of approaching enemy aircraft, effectively giving Britain a 15-minute advance warning of an impending attack. The site comprises three different reflectors, including a 200-foot-long curved wall, a 30-foot-tall parabolic dish, and a smaller 20-foot-tall shallow dish. All are on view at Greatstone, a village on the coast of Romney Marsh in Kent, England.
More amazing places with weird acoustics
8. Sagano Bamboo Forest, Kyoto, Japan
Nowadays, the sounds of Sagano Bamboo Forest - just 30 minutes from Kyoto’s city centre - are often drowned out by crowds of tourists. But if you can find a quiet time to visit, you'll find something extraordinary.
As the wind sweeps through the forest, the bamboo plants compose their own ethereal music—creaking wood, murmuring leaves, and resonant trunk-knocks; standing in the middle of this is like being in another world. Not for nothing is the Sagano Bamboo Forest - just 30 minutes from Kyoto’s city centre - listed in the top 100 preserved soundscapes of Japan.
9. Museo de la Marimba (Marimba Muserum), Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico
Although African in origin, the marimba became a central part of culture in southeastern Mexico after the instrument was brought there by enslaved Africans. It is the national instrument of Guatemala, and is also widely popular in Mexican states with Maya populations - particularly Chiapas, and its state capital of Tuxtla Gutiérrez.
Opened in 2006, this museum displays around 15 marimbas, ranging from an antique model created in 1917 to one that produces microtonal music. Here, visitors can interact with digital marimba displays, or attend any of the many concerts featuring various Mexican marimbists. The result is a highly colourful soundscape, showcasing the marimba’s range and potential.
10. The Dream House, New York, USA
While this might not fit everybody’s vision of a ‘dream house’ - there’s no swimming pool or wine cellar, for one thing - it is certainly unusual. Inside, is a sound and light installation, featuring microtonal sound, optical sculptures, neon pink lighting and electronic drone compositions which, when experienced altogether, created a disorientating experience.
Unless you are completely still, you encounter a new collection of pitches with every move you make. Created in 1993 by the minimalist composer La Monte Young and his partner, the multimedia artist Marian Zazeela, it’s the culmination of 40 years of work.
According to Zazeela, “together, the sound and light can be experienced as a new form or new media: the sound and light environment. The experience of the two mediums together as one requires a new, or at least different, mode of attention.” The New York Times, meanwhile, described it as an “urban refuge”.
11. Underground Sound Sculptures, Loches, France
For many years, the musician and visual artist Will Menter has been creating sound sculptures that explore and blur the boundary between music and natural sounds. Some of these sound sculptures are on display at the Carrière de Vignemont at Loches, near Tours, an underground network of tunnels that was first a stone quarry, then a mushroom farm, and now a tourist attraction.
In this reverberant setting, you can hear a sequence of ambient sounds: water droplets hitting slate, stone surfaces rubbing together, wood creaking, air moving through bamboo pipes and ceramic percussion - all triggered by sensors responding to the visitors' presence.
12. Museum of Sound, Saint Petersburg, Russia
This most unusual of sound destinations houses a collection of self-made instruments - each more eccentric than the last. Among the strangest of them is the "utyugon," one of the first analog synthesizers in Russia, which is essentially a table with nailed guitar strings that have irons hung on them and knives stuck in the countertop.
Equally intriguing is the "smargachka," a metallic washboard, with various bells and whistles attached. Elsewhere there’s the "contrabas" clarinet of sewer pipes (a saxophonist’s creation) which uses a system of holes with wooden bungs. There’s certainly plenty to look at, and the happy news is that you don’t have to restrict yourself to looking: visitors can try out some of the instruments for themselves, generating an orchestra of sounds that you’re unlikely to hear again in this lifetime.
13. Whispering Gallery, St Paul's Cathedral, London, UK
In a similar vein to the Whispering Bench, this circular walkway, high up above the ground, allows visitors to whisper to one another from opposite ends of the gallery and still be heard. Although Sir Christopher Wren did not design the walkway with acoustics in mind, visitors soon discovered the remarkable sonic phenomenon after St Paul’s Cathedral was consecrated in 1708.
Since then it has come to be associated with various legends, not least one about a pair of young lovers who exploited the gallery's unique design to exchange secret messages. But it’s also a visual masterpiece, decorated, as it is, with intricate paintings, mosaics and carvings that bring various biblical scenes to life.
14. The Clocktower Project, Massachusetts, USA
In 1996, the German composer, sound artist, performance artist, professor and flautist Christina Kubisch created the permanent installation The Clocktower Project, in which she reactivated a century-old factory clock that had long been out of commission. She began playing the bells like musical instruments, ringing them with their clappers as well as hammering, brushing, and striking them with her hands and various tools.
She recorded the collection of bell tones with a digital audio recorder, then used solar panels to play different bell sequences according to the weather and time of day. Thus, sunny days ring out sharp and clear, while cloudy days are softer and denser. This atmospheric, John Cage-esque installation is still on display at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.
