What is the Museum of Portable Sound?
We’re a museum that you listen to, exhibiting hundreds of sounds we recorded around the world!
Our visitors make an appointment – with us and themselves – to listen!
(Visit online or meet us in person – alone or in a group!)
Our sounds are organised by topic – the same way other museums exhibit visual objects.
We maintain a Physical Objects Collection, a Research Library, and a Video Gallery.
We also present temporary exhibitions!
We offer classes & workshops, organise conferences, and publish writing about sound.
What our visitors say:
‘Interrogates what museums are with an inventive curatorial approach and presents its artefacts with a sense of fun often absent in sound art.’
—The Wire Magazine
‘An amazing project – magical.’
—Judith Clark
‘A thing of beauty!’
—Londonist.com
‘I’ve never thought about sound in this way before!’
—First Year Student, Bournemouth Film School
‘*****, would go back’
—Seth Cluett
‘Plays with sound as media and media as sound…investigates the many facets of a young and quickly evolving culture of sound and listening.’
—Reviews in Digital Humanities
Our Director was awarded a PhD from University of the Arts London for the thesis he wrote about his creation of this museum, Listening to Museums: Sounds as Objects of Culture and Curatorial Care.
Latest News
Sounds Beyond Music Curator’s Talk: Thursday 8 February 2024
Our Director & Chief Curator Dr John Kannenberg will give a Curator’s Talk on Thursday evening, 8 February 2024 at 5:30pm in conjunction with our Sounds Beyond Music exhibit currently on view at the University of Portsmouth Library. The talk will include a brief introduction to our museum, a listening session of some sounds in our…
The Radio Tower: Long Island Radio & Television Historical Society Podcast
SAYVILLE, NEW YORK—Our Director was recently interviewed by Chris Kretz of the Long Island Radio & Television Historical Society for an episode of their podcast, The Radio Tower. You can listen to the episode by clicking here or on the image of the player below. The Historical Society is based around the preservation of the…
Sound Matters Symposium Presentation, South Africa
STELLENBOSCH, SOUTH AFRICA – Our Director was invited to participate in the virtual symposium Sound Matters, a virtual symposium hosted by the South African Research Chair in Science Communication at Stellenbosch University, The Academic Citizen, and the South African Journal of Science. His presentation ‘Science of Sound, Science as Sound’ was a brief introduction to…
We bring the culture & history of sound beyond music to the world, one listener at a time.
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The Museum of Portable Sound is a member of these professional organisations:
The Museum of Portable Sound 