Why do I hear the sound of the ocean in seashells?

It has to do with the way sound waves reverberate off of the hollow spiral inside the shell.

Where is sndfreQ when we need him?!

I thought it was the sound of your blood rushing through your head but magnified in the shell. Did someone lie to me? I am a very gullible person. If this isn’t true, then someone played a good joke on me because I’ve believed this for quite a while.. =\

Allie, Allie, Allie….

conch shells are the best for “hearing the ocean”

@Allie nope, not true. If it was the blood flow, after a hard work out the noise would be much louder, but thats not the case.

The reason you hear the noise is because the shell captures the ambient noise around you and it bounces around the inside of the shell throws it back at your ear. That is why no two shells will ever sound the same because they all have different grooves and bumps. Really though the shell isnt even necessary to show this works. You can just cup your hands and put them next to your ear and you will hear the ocean. Now vary the distance and angle your hands are at and the sound will change.Also if you are in a loud room the sound will be much louder. But if you were in a sound proof room, you wouldn’t hear anything even in the shell.

But, but, when you are at the beach, and are smelling the salt in the air, and feeling the water on your toes, and the warmth of the sun on your shoulders, and you find one of these amazing shells, and put it to your ear, it sounds just like the ocean. Because it also smells like the ocean, and the sun and all. That’s why.

Wow, I’m embarrassed. Haha.. ha…hmm…
=\