Why do seashells sound like the ocean?

Answer 1

Seashells do not really make any sound of their own. Inside they have many hard curved surfaces, which are good reflectors for sound. So any sound waves that get inside are jumbled up by all kinds of echoes. When you hold the shell up to your ear, you hear the noise of all those jumbled-up echoes. That does sound much like the noise of ocean waves beating against a shore.
If you have a seashell with a big cavity inside, try it out again at home next to your ear. Unless you get in a very, very quiet place, it will keep roaring as if it had brought some of the ocean with it.

Answer 2

Seashells do not really make any sound of their own. Inside they have many hard curved surfaces, which are good reflectors for sound. So any sound waves that get inside are jumbled up by all kinds of echoes. When you hold the shell up to your ear, you hear the noise of all those jumbled-up echoes. That does sound much like the noise of ocean waves beating against a shore.

If you have a seashell with a big cavity inside, try it out again at home next to your ear. Unless you get in a very, very quiet place, it will keep roaring as if it had brought some of the ocean with it.

Answer 3

The sound you hear that seems to be the relaxing hum of the ocean waves is actually a distortion of the noises in your environment. Ambient sounds are bounced around the inside of the shell and changed - some are amplified, some are suppressed. Different sounds reach your ear at different times and in different ways. This causes them to sound like the surging of ocean waves.

Do you want to feel like you're on a beach vacation, but you don't have a shell to hold to your ear? You're in luck. You can get a similar effect by using the coffee cup that you’ve just emptied!

Answer 4

Because they trap soundwaves as echoes. Not just sounds from the ocean, but people's voices for example. It just sounds like the ocean because the sound waves get mixed up and diffused. If you take your seashell and yell into it, then hold it up to your ear, the "ocean" will be louder.

Answer 5

It's the sound of the blood rushing through the veins in your ear. The seashell amplifies the sould which sounds like the surf hitting the beach.

Answer 6

The sound that manages to get through the shell bounces around inside and creates a white noise effect that sounds a lot like the ocean.

Answer 7

Any enclosed "cupping" object would feel like than, even your cupped hand. What happens is the external sound waves get muffled, and turn into what is known as white noise. White noise is what the ocean sound like, because there is a great number of sound sources, and virtually all the frequencies are present.

To hear white noise first hand, tune a radio or TV to a channel where there is no transmission. That pssssssht! sound is white noise.

Answer 8

have u seen "how the grinch stole x-mas"? well u know how there is a town inside the snowflake? same concept. there is an entire civilization inside. when a shell is in the ocean, the shell dwellers are sleeping and once it exits the ocean they wake up. however, of course they are still sleepy so it actually is an entire civilization going "shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" to get you to stop banging the friggin shell

Answer 9

I was told once when I was younger, but I can't remember what I was told. I always thought it was neat hearing the ocean since I have never seen it. Check out this site...it will explain a lot.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/question556.htm

Answer 10

Hi. The sound of blood going through your ear is reflected back to you.