Tree Listening Installation at Kew
Ben
Metcalfe, a first year undergraduate student at the University of Bath, said ‘I was approached by
designer
Alex Metcalf a number of months
ago, and hired to design and build a number of amplifiers for use in a
"Tree Listening
Installation". The
installation is now complete and has been
installed in the Royal Botanical Gardens,
Kew Gardens, London. After proving popular at the Royal Gardens,
I believe that a number of other such institutions are looking for a similar system.'
The project consisted of designing and building a control system which both powered and amplified the signal from a medical grade electronic stethoscope. The installation is designed to listen to the sound of a tree transporting water up from the ground, which can be heard as a series of "clicks" through the earpiece. The system was trialled at Westonbirt Arboretum near Bath.
Ben says ‘I would like to thank Mr. Andy Matthews (Technician at the University of Bath) for his extended help in both the construction and testing of the project, and for being the only person to believe that you can actually hear the trees - I myself was skeptical at first.’
