Where does the sound in a seashell come from?
Contrary to popular myth, the sound of waves in a seashell are not made by the echo of blood pulsing in the ear. In fact, what we are hearing is environmental noise that sounds different because it is reflected off of the interior of the seashell. This distorts the sound we hear, and depending on the size and shape of the shell, amplifies certain frequencies and muffles others. Take a look at Discovery Online’s article The Skinny On…The Ocean in a Seashell by Hannah Holmes for an interesting explanation of this phenomenon.
