Film

Tree Listening Test

2017 · 9m

If trees had ears? In this preliminary study for The Social Lives of Urban Trees we brought an accelerometer, a hydrophone, an ultrasonic microphone, and various special purpose transducers to audition a London planetree (Platanus x acerifolia) planted at a city streetcorner. The ears of humans and many animals use air as the vector for sound transmission. Trees are said to be more receptive to earthborne vibrations, which they sense through their roots. Although we can only speculate what a tree might hear, our intention was figuring out how to listen to the tree’s presence among its urban milieu.

• Rachel StricklandDirector

Release date

January 10, 2017

Status

Released

Original language

English

Runtime

9m