Sound Waves formed part of World Listening Day 2015. It celebrated and built on World Listening Day’s 2015 theme of water by presenting a collective reimagining of the sounds of water around the world.

Thirty-eight sound artists from around the world submitted a field recording and reimagining of water somewhere in the world: ocean, river, lake, stream, swimming pool, boiling kettle, splash of a puddle – anything in which water is the defining sound.

By capturing the sounds of water and recontextualising them, we examined our own relationship with water as it surrounds us every day.

A selection of the reimagined sounds were recomposed into one 30-minute piece by us, titled ‘Sound Waves’, a shared sonic reflection on water and the role it plays in our lives.

Listen to Sound Waves:

Explore the full range of recordings and their reimagined counterparts on our Sound Waves sound map:





Listen to all of the sounds in the Sound Waves playlist: