Listening glasses are hollow, spherical acoustic devices that resonate in response to specific tones, should these be present in the air around them. They are modeled on Helmholtz resonators, tools placed in the ear that enable the listener to discover subtle partial tones in sound. Scientist Herman von Helmholtz (1821-94) used the instruments recreationally, taking them outside of his laboratory and listening for their tones in ‘noises’ such as the rumbling of carriages, the whistling of wind and the splashing and seething of water. These recordings were inspired by Helmholtz's activities.

This is a new stereo mix of multichannel recordings originally developed for TONSPUR 36, 2010 (tonspur.at). The first series of Listening Glasses were commissioned by Electra for Sound Escapes, 2009 (electra-productions.com).

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