Do colours in the natural world emit sound?

The idea that colour and sound could be connected originally struck field recordist, Jay-Dea Lopez, as quite fanciful. However he soon discovered this was not a new idea. A line of enquiry dates back to the time of Classical Greece with Aristotle first assigning colours to the Greek musical scale. Having read a number of auditory theories related to the colour blue, Lopez was most intrigued by a recent study conducted by Wichita University that found participants commonly connected the same colours to sine-wave tones played to them, which reinforces the belief that certain frequencies of colour and sound are matched on some level.

The Colour of Sound: Blue is the first in a chromatic series that contemplates the emotional resonance of colour.

Jay-Dea Lopez is a field recordist and sound artist from the Northern Rivers region of NSW. His field recordings have appeared in film, radio and stage.

Listen at: The colour of sound: Blue