Sound Tourism and Other Acoustic Curiosities

In my new feature “Sound tourism and other curiosities”, I explore places around the world where sound itself becomes the attraction. It presents natural and built acoustic sites—often mysterious, sometimes experimental—that turn the ear into a tool for discovery.

The table of contents surveys sonic curiosities across every continent: Namibia’s singing dunes, a field of ringing rocks in the United States, California’s musical road, India’s musical pillars, whispering galleries, Zadar’s Sea Organ, and many more. Each site is framed for its touristic, scientific, or artistic interest.

This dossier operates on several levels. It encourages us to relearn how to listen to the world—not as mere background ambience, but as material to investigate. It’s an invitation to “travel by ear,” where each place reveals a sonic signature, an acoustic singularity. It crosses geography, acoustics, heritage, and sound art, showing how a natural phenomenon or an architectural structure can “sing.”

For whom? For sound enthusiasts—foley artists, audio designers, sound artists—but also for fans of alternative travel, researchers in soundscape or geoacoustics, and, more broadly, anyone eager to experience the world differently. The dossier serves as a guide, a source of inspiration, and a starting point for planning personal explorations or research.

Finally, it joins a wider conversation: how can listening be integrated into tourism experiences, heritage promotion, and stewardship of the soundscape? Can an acoustic phenomenon be “put on the tourist map” without being distorted?

In short, “Sound tourism and other curiosities” invites us to rediscover the world not through the eyes, but through the ear—to sense the voice of the landscape and hear the unusual. Through this feature, every reader is invited to become a sound explorer.