Museum of Science and Industry

Opened as a permanent exhibit in 1938, the Whispering Gallery demonstrates the wonders of sound wave communication. The concept of this exhibit is to allow a whisper to travel from one focal point in the room to another. The “gallery” is designed in the form of an ellipsoid (similar to a football), with two arched-shaped dishes placed at either end. When you whisper directly into the dish, your voice will be transported across the room and received by the listener standing in front of the other dish. Each dish serves as a point of focus in the room. When sounds are made inside the room, the line of sound reflects directly to the focus at the other end of the room.

As an added result, when sound is not directed to any particular point of focus it bounces around, creating the echo that is experienced when sound is made anywhere else in the gallery.