Speaking tube

How does the exhibit work?

Have someone take a seat at the other horn. Talk in one of the 3 tubes. Also try using your hands as a tube around your mouth

What is the science behind it?

The other person hears you, several times even. This is because the horns are connected via three speaking tubes. Your voice reverberates against those walls and thus follows the tubes. A bit like water running through pipes.

The tubes are 20, 40 and 80 metres long. Because your voice has to travel a longer path at the 40-metre one, and even longer at the 80-metre one, your voice arrives at the other side at three different times.

Sound reverberation with echo

When you shout something in a deep cave or a long tube, the sound you make collides with the rock walls or the end of the tube and bounces back to your ear. As a result, you hear an echo. 

Would you like to try that? Then visit our Echo tube on the upper floor.