As a sound artist Gemma is inspired by sounds you normally don’t perceive. In this new work she invites the audience to listen to the sounds hidden in the canals of Utrecht.

“Hidden sounds” is an installation where in the audience walks a route through the city listening to the already existing soundscape of the streets in contrast with the sounds under water.
In this route there are three underwater-listen-points where the audience can plug in their headphones, sit down and listen. The sounds are recorded by hydrophones (microphones for water).

Most of the time we hear soundwaves that travel through air, but soundwaves also travel through water. The biggest difference between these two mediums is the speed of the soundwaves, in water the particles are much closer, so they transmit the vibration faster. About four times faster than in air.

Here you can find a video; an impression of wat you see and what you hear when you are in an underwater-listen-point: