Science Arts

How Can Hidden Sounds Be Captured By Everyday Objects

by NPR/TED Staff

"Really tiny motions or really fast motions — these are things that we don't typically see with our eyes." — Abe Davis
"Really tiny motions or really fast motions — these are things that we don't typically see with our eyes." — Abe Davis Bret Hartman / TED

Part 1 of the TED Radio Hour episode Hidden

About Abe Davis' TED Talk

Computer scientist Abe Davis explains how you can turn a plant or a bag of chips into a microphone, and capturing the hidden sound vibrations on a high-speed camera.

About Abe Davis

Abe Davis is a doctoral candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a musician.

In 2014, he revealed the "visual microphone," an algorithm that samples the vibrations of ordinary objects — such as a bag of potato chips — from high-speed video footage and transforms them into intelligible audio.

Davis also created Caperture, a 3D-imaging app designed to create and share 3D images on any compatible smartphone.

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