dominic wilcox’s binaudios allow participants to listen to the sounds of the city
all images courtesy dominic wilcox
british designer dominic wilcox and creative technologist james rutherford have collaborated on the creation of ‘binaudios’, a device that allows a participant to listen to city sounds from within the sage gateshead building in the UK. drawing influence from the iconic form of over-sized tourist binoculars, the large-scale device can be pointed at over 50 different locations across the tyne river, seen through the conference center’s floor-to-ceiling windows.
activated by the audience, the giant listening cones can be aimed towards various points of interest throughout the city, where voices, crowds and sounds of the sites can be heard; for example if directed at the football stadium, the participant may hear a wildly chanting crowd, or, if positioned towards the tyne bridge, they might listen to king george V’s speech when he opened the monument in 1928, and if steered toward the park, noise from skateboarders and local tennis players can be perceived.