* The author is part of the community of readers of La Vanguardia
When taking this series of photographs for La Vanguardia’s Readers’ Photos I have asked myself if we really hear the sea when we hold a conch shell to our ears.
We know, because scientists have demonstrated it, that the Earth is constantly murmuring and whispering. Some parts of our planet produce more noise than others and its origin is in the sea. It is what has come to be called “low-frequency whisper”, which was first discovered in 1998.
The cause would be the waves when they impact the ocean floor. In this way, the largest source of this noise detected would be on the Pacific coast of North America.
As for the conch, when we put it to our ears we seem to hear the sea. But, in reality, we must bear in mind that, although we perceive a fluctuating sound that reminds us of waves, what we are hearing is the air vibrating inside the seashell.
In other words, the conch is not capable of emitting any sound on its own, but it does act as a resonance box, so we perceive that amplified vibration.
