Duration
VisualizationFrequencies over time, scrolling left
55sInterval
Session
A guided listening meditation. Press begin, stay quiet, and follow the prompts. The room will show you sounds you've been missing.
The instrument is your attention.
The instrument is your attention. The score is whatever is happening right now.
A guided listening meditation. Press begin, stay quiet, and follow the prompts. The room will show you sounds you've been missing.
The instrument is your attention.
Deep Listening was developed by composer Pauline Oliveros, who spent her life exploring the difference between hearing and listening. Hearing is passive — it happens to you. Listening is active — it's an instrument you play with your attention.
Oliveros believed that most of us live in a narrow band of awareness, filtering out the vast majority of sounds around us. Deep Listening expands that band — you begin to hear layers, textures, and rhythms in the everyday world that were always there but never noticed.
This experiment is a guided session. Open your microphone and the room around you becomes the score. Gentle prompts redirect your attention — to the farthest sound, the closest sound, the space between sounds. The visualization shows you what your ears are already hearing.
Try it: choose 5 minutes, start the session, and close your eyes between prompts. When it's over, notice how differently the world sounds.