Sounds of... home!

Did you know that sounds are hidden in your… home?

Ears help us hear the various sounds around us. Sound is a sensation felt within our ears when they are stimulated by the various pressures of the atmospheric air. We could say that sound travels in waves that vibrate or shake our eardrum.

How about exploring the sounds of our house?

Choose the quietest moment of your day and sit in your favorite corner of the house. Close your eyes and try to focus on your hearing. Once you find your concentration, try to "catch" with your ear the sounds of your home. Focus on the sounds inside the house first and then on those outside.

Which home machine makes the most noise? What  do the minutes of the clock sound like? Who's chirping outside your window? What about cars?

Once you find a sound, write it down or draw it on a piece of paper. You can make two different lists for the sounds inside and outside the house. Once you've found them all, show your list to your family. Who has heard the same sounds as you?

Have a good listening!

#Tips:

• Observe your ears in the mirror. What shape are they? What is their "construction"? Explore your books and discover how many different types of ears there are. For example, how many different ears do animals have?
• You can categorize the sounds you found into loud and quiet sounds. Each sound has a different intensity that is measured in decibels (db). For example, a whisper is 20 decibels on that scale while a firework is about 100. How many decibels are your sounds ?
• Make a homemade phone and try to talk to your family with it. All you need are two plastic cups and twine, with which you will connect the bottoms of your  two cups. Put one cup in your ear and give the other to someone in order talk to you. How different do you hear the sound?
• How about sending your sound to the world? Record your home sound you like best and send it around to everyone via Cities and Memory webpage. Don't forget to listen to other sounds from the rest of the world!