The Listener

What does your data sound like? Our smartphones, laptops and tablets are constantly openly broadcasting their unique identification signals to nearby wireless networks, especially when we look for new ones. They also store the names of networks we’ve previously connected with, creating a detailed diary of our whereabouts. Wesley Goatley’s The Listener turns each of these invisible digital conversations, including those from your own phone, into sounds played in the headphones. Each phone within range is given a unique vocal chant to identify its information, and its volume increases with your signal strength. The whispers coming from within The Listener reveal the names of wifi networks you or others around you may have recently joined at home, at work or at a cafe. This may be the kind of information we can rarely see, but here is your chance to hear it. Can you hear yours?