Earthtunes
Listening to the Solid Earth
Free · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.
Earthtunes is a mobile App that helps you listen to normally inaudible sounds within the Earth beneath us. These sounds are caused by seismic waves and are so low in frequency that our ears do not hear them. Most of these seismic waves are weak and continuously generated by a range of environmental sources. Some of these seismic waves are strong and caused by earthquakes.
If you’ve ever played videos at twice the speed, you will have noticed that the pitch of the video’s sound went up as well. Earthtunes lets you listen to the Earth’s seismic waves by increasing their pitch. Two hours of seismic data translates to several seconds of sound.
We hope you find these sounds as fascinating as we do. As seismologists we are working to understand what these sounds mean, it’s like learning a foreign language without a dictionary. While we have learned a lot over the past 100 years, many mysteries remain.
Ratings & Reviews
* Two new Challenges (now renamed "Explorations") have been added to the app: "Fire and Ice" and "Tropical Storms"
* Translated into Portuguese (BR)
The developer, Northwestern University, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
- Location
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- Northwestern University
- Size
- 20.8 MB
- Category
- Education
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 15.0 or later. - iPad
Requires iPadOS 15.0 or later. - iPod touch
Requires iOS 15.0 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 12.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
English and 2 more
- English, Portuguese, Spanish
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- Copyright
- © 2026 Northwestern University