Making sense of sound.

• Position: Sound exhibition, Listen: Making Sense of Sound

Dive into the sonic soup: "Listen: Making Sense of I Sound" features almost 60 interactive exhibits, 40 of them brand new. Listen for the aural clues that evoke a sense of place--automatic doors and cash registers vs. teaspoons clinking against cups and espresso machines. Explore the physiological processes of hearing, human speech, and communication, and take a host of sonic journeys. Combining exhibits, activities, demonstrations, specially commissioned artist-created listening environments, as well as public programs, this exhibition invites visitors to experience--as never before--the nature of sound, the ways in which people and animals perceive sound, and, most importantly, how humans listen.

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This exhibition is a place to listen as a deer does when you try on alternative ears and learn the ways the shape and orientation of an animal's ears affect the sounds it hears--or, like a snake, listen with your teeth and jawbone. Navigate an underground train with a blind person as your guide. Swap the soundtracks of well-known movies to uncover the powerful influence of sound in creating mood.

The act of listening in this exhibition is the means and the ends to learning because sound, by its nature, carries information. Yet, there are many layers of meaning. What we hear is guided by physics--vibrations, materials, and space. What we hear is guided by our ears and brains--our physiology, memory, attention, listening conflicts, and synergies. What we hear is filtered by who we are--our choices, culture, and history. This exhibition summons them all through the ears. Among the demonstrations are Listening Walks, where visitors put on blindfolds to explore the rich, dynamic soundscape around them. Take a Silent Walk to...