What is the Museum of Portable Sound?

We’re a museum you listen to, exhibiting hundreds of sounds 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 curate temporary exhibitions!

We offer classes & workshops, organise conferences, and publish writing about sound.

What our visitors say:

‘A thing of beauty!’

—Londonist.com

‘An amazing project – magical.’

Judith Clark

‘Has changed the way I’ll think about every museum I visit going forward.’

—Kevin McKinney

‘I’ve never thought about sound in this way before!’

—First Year Student, Bournemouth Film School

‘The coolest thing I’ve done in a long time!’

—Dominique Russell

‘*****, 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
As Seen In A PhD

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

Our 2,000th Visitor!

MUSEUM OF PORTABLE SOUND LABORATORIES, SOUTHSEA – This morning we welcomed a group of three online visitors to our museum who took a guided tour. As a result: • Today we welcomed our first visitors of 2023; • Today we welcomed our first visitors based in the Philippines; • Today we welcomed the 2,000th person…

We bring the culture & history of sound beyond music to the world, one listener at a time.

Who We Are

Social Media

Mastodon

Gift Shop

The Museum of Portable Sound is a member of these professional organisations: