Can the recorded sound of a single note played on a piano be compared to the seismic records of an earthquake? If so, how much (so)? A 2020 research project from the Golestan Institute of Higher Education, and the Department of Civil Engineering, Islamic Azad University of Kish Iran, has investigated.

“The comparison between near-field recordings and synthetic recordings derived from piano sound showed that the highest correlation with the Loma Prieta, Niigata, Japan and Chuetsu-oki, Japan earthquakes was about 60%. Also, the lowest correlation for Northridge earthquake was about 30% and also the comparison between remote area records and synthetic records derived from piano sound showed that Friuli, Italy-01 and Borah Peak, ID-02 70% had the highest correlation. Coalinga-01 had the lowest correlation of about 40% among the selected records. The results also showed that the correlation between the selected synthetic records for the faraway fault zone is higher than the near fault state.”

See; Using the Piano Keys Sound as Artificial Accelerations in Advance Researches in Civil Engineering, Vol.2, No.2, pages: 56-64