The art of listening underwater: Jana Winderen highlights the effects of sound pollution
In a fascinating exploration of London's River Thames, Norwegian sound artist Jana Winderen researches and records aquatic life in collaboration with Tony Myatt. As the installation draws to a close, new measures are announced by the UK government to suppress underwater sound pollution in the city.
Strewn across the grey beanbags of London’s Natural History Museum, teenagers lie with lit-up screens glaring back at them. Perhaps they are lost stragglers on a school trip, or maybe, are just at ease, quietly curious about the immersive soundscape around them. Others sit calmly submerged in sound, observing, and reflecting on the trickling noises: underwater insects mimicking a crickets’ chirp, the gnawing sounds of cod and rainforest-like pitter-patter.
Sound-based artists, Jana Winderen and Tony Myatt created ‘The River’ – a sound installation which opened last summer, in July 2024. The piece reveals how human-made sound pollution can affect aquatic life in London’s most iconic river, The Thames. The piece uses multiple, carefully placed speakers on ground level and overhead in the museum hall, to play captivating recordings, often inaccessible to our ears.
Adobe Stock
As I spoke with Jana via zoom, I longed to be on the other end of the call – in Scandinavian winter bliss, a far cry from London’s noisy bustle.
Whilst apologising for running five minutes late, she confessed she had been immersed in a new research idea and lost track of time, but that it was too soon to share, as the ideas needed to sleep with her overnight: “to develop”.
She tells me how she followed the river from the “small and tiny” source in Kemble, then Cricklade, mid-way between Swindon and Cirencester, where she says the river is starting to flow. “There were all these bubbles coming out of the ground, methane gas from the soil.. and rotten plants”. Jana traced this to the mouth, the Thames estuary, which she describes as “an organism that flows and flows”.
To capture the sounds, she records using underwater microphones with a quiet pre-amp, and for the shallower parts, hydrophones, laid on the riverbed.
“We had a very curious seal at one point that nibbled on my hydrophone.”
Mid-conversation, Jana noticed a bundle of snow fall from a tree outside her cabin-esque house, just north of Oslo. A simple image like this reflects what she hopes people take from her work: meticulous care for the smaller details of the outside, natural world.
Mammals, fish, insects and crustaceans are amongst the sounds heard in the recordings, as well as human-made noise from overhead planes and the low hum of nearby boats.
The recordings highlight how sound pollution crucially affects the stress-levels of the fish and how they communicate.
“You have constant engine sounds, coming towards central London… uber boats which are enormously loud… It masks the sound of the creatures there.. they can not hear each other and it adds to the stress”.
Memories of listening to The Thames, and Fjords in Norway
Jana recalls living and studying in Greenwich, London, back in the 90s. This is when she first started recording underwater. She smiles as she tells me that this project allowed her to “go back and spend time by the river”.
We discuss some of the “unique” river projects she has spent time on. She takes me back to a project in 2006 when she followed the meltwater from a glacier to a fjord in Norway. This is when she became aware of the “rich soundscape underwater..by listening to cod, crustaceans in the fjord there”.
Image – Rowan Flack
The negative impacts of human-made noise on wildlife
Steve Simpson, a professor of marine biology and global change at the University has spent years researching and conducting experiments with aquatic life. He tells me that over the past ten years, his experiments have looked at how sound can affect foraging behaviour and feeding, detecting predators, breeding, successful courtship, embryonic development and the hormonal profiles of animals in noisy environments.
“Whether it’s the noise of a scuba diver, the noise of a motorboat, or the noise of an industrial construction site, all can have negative impacts”.
The passion for change from Steve is clear. Traditionally, pile driving is the way that you may build a foundation for a wind turbine – “banging a very large steel pile in to the seabed”. However, new solutions mean less harm for aquatic life. He lists propeller systems, bubble curtains and vibro-piling or corkscrew piling as solutions for sound pollution. “A vibro-pile effectively shakes itself into the seabed, or a corkscrew, which twists itself in”.
Plans for change
Last week, the government announced new measures to curb underwater noise and accelerate renewable energy.
As part of the Government’s Plan for Change, new changes will reduce noise levels in our seas. Marine Minister, Emma Hardy says that “these new measures support the construction of offshore wind that the UK needs while making sensible changes to stop needless harm to underwater life”.
“One thing that definitely keeps me full of hope is the determination of the next generation of scientists.. that really want to focus on solutions… want to find ways to make the future a better place, rather than just document its demise” – Steve Simpson, Professor of Marine Biology and Global Change
As the installation comes to a close, it seems the UK government and offshore wind companies are set on their new goal: allowing aquatic wildlife to thrive in London’s rivers and shores, allowing humans to listen more closely to the world around us.
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HeadlineThe art of listening underwater: Jana Winderen highlights the effects of sound pollution
Short HeadlineNew measures announced help to suppress underwater sound pollution in the city
StandfirstIn a fascinating exploration of London's River Thames, Norwegian sound artist Jana Winderen researches and records aquatic life in collaboration with Tony Myatt. As the installation draws to a close, new measures are announced by the UK government to suppress underwater sound pollution in the city.
Strewn across the grey beanbags of London’s Natural History Museum, teenagers lie with lit-up screens glaring back at them. Perhaps they are lost stragglers on a school trip, or maybe, are just at ease, quietly curious about the immersive soundscape around them. Others sit calmly submerged in sound, observing, and reflecting on the trickling noises: underwater insects mimicking a crickets’ chirp, the gnawing sounds of cod and rainforest-like pitter-patter.
Sound-based artists, Jana Winderen and Tony Myatt created ‘The River’ – a sound installation which opened last summer, in July 2024. The piece reveals how human-made sound pollution can affect aquatic life in London’s most iconic river, The Thames. The piece uses multiple, carefully placed speakers on ground level and overhead in the museum hall, to play captivating recordings, often inaccessible to our ears.
Adobe Stock
As I spoke with Jana via zoom, I longed to be on the other end of the call – in Scandinavian winter bliss, a far cry from London’s noisy bustle.
Whilst apologising for running five minutes late, she confessed she had been immersed in a new research idea and lost track of time, but that it was too soon to share, as the ideas needed to sleep with her overnight: “to develop”.
She tells me how she followed the river from the “small and tiny” source in Kemble, then Cricklade, mid-way between Swindon and Cirencester, where she says the river is starting to flow. “There were all these bubbles coming out of the ground, methane gas from the soil.. and rotten plants”. Jana traced this to the mouth, the Thames estuary, which she describes as “an organism that flows and flows”.
To capture the sounds, she records using underwater microphones with a quiet pre-amp, and for the shallower parts, hydrophones, laid on the riverbed.
“We had a very curious seal at one point that nibbled on my hydrophone.”
Mid-conversation, Jana noticed a bundle of snow fall from a tree outside her cabin-esque house, just north of Oslo. A simple image like this reflects what she hopes people take from her work: meticulous care for the smaller details of the outside, natural world.
Mammals, fish, insects and crustaceans are amongst the sounds heard in the recordings, as well as human-made noise from overhead planes and the low hum of nearby boats.
The recordings highlight how sound pollution crucially affects the stress-levels of the fish and how they communicate.
“You have constant engine sounds, coming towards central London… uber boats which are enormously loud… It masks the sound of the creatures there.. they can not hear each other and it adds to the stress”.
Memories of listening to The Thames, and Fjords in Norway
Jana recalls living and studying in Greenwich, London, back in the 90s. This is when she first started recording underwater. She smiles as she tells me that this project allowed her to “go back and spend time by the river”.
We discuss some of the “unique” river projects she has spent time on. She takes me back to a project in 2006 when she followed the meltwater from a glacier to a fjord in Norway. This is when she became aware of the “rich soundscape underwater..by listening to cod, crustaceans in the fjord there”.
Image – Rowan Flack
The negative impacts of human-made noise on wildlife
Steve Simpson, a professor of marine biology and global change at the University has spent years researching and conducting experiments with aquatic life. He tells me that over the past ten years, his experiments have looked at how sound can affect foraging behaviour and feeding, detecting predators, breeding, successful courtship, embryonic development and the hormonal profiles of animals in noisy environments.
“Whether it’s the noise of a scuba diver, the noise of a motorboat, or the noise of an industrial construction site, all can have negative impacts”.
The passion for change from Steve is clear. Traditionally, pile driving is the way that you may build a foundation for a wind turbine – “banging a very large steel pile in to the seabed”. However, new solutions mean less harm for aquatic life. He lists propeller systems, bubble curtains and vibro-piling or corkscrew piling as solutions for sound pollution. “A vibro-pile effectively shakes itself into the seabed, or a corkscrew, which twists itself in”.
Plans for change
Last week, the government announced new measures to curb underwater noise and accelerate renewable energy.
As part of the Government’s Plan for Change, new changes will reduce noise levels in our seas. Marine Minister, Emma Hardy says that “these new measures support the construction of offshore wind that the UK needs while making sensible changes to stop needless harm to underwater life”.
“One thing that definitely keeps me full of hope is the determination of the next generation of scientists.. that really want to focus on solutions… want to find ways to make the future a better place, rather than just document its demise” – Steve Simpson, Professor of Marine Biology and Global Change
As the installation comes to a close, it seems the UK government and offshore wind companies are set on their new goal: allowing aquatic wildlife to thrive in London’s rivers and shores, allowing humans to listen more closely to the world around us.
