A babbling brook, a rippling stream, a roaring ocean.
The sounds of water are among the most beautiful in the world, but they're not only good for our ears — they're good for the undersea environment as well.
A project led by UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography uses the sounds of the sea to entice marine life to resettle and restore coral reefs, the foundation of Hawaiʻi's marine environment.
By using underwater speakers, scientists hope to study methods for protecting coastal infrastructure along the shallow waters of Oʻahu's west side.
To learn more, HPR spoke with two figures involved with the project: Aaron Thode, who leads the Institution's Environmental Acoustic Lab, and researcher and Ph.D. candidate Océane Boulais.
"It's kind of amazing," Thode began. "We've come to appreciate how much sound there is in the ocean and how important it is to the lives and the survival of a lot of organisms in the ocean."
"For the fish larvae, we can actually detect their presence and their responses to acoustic enrichment as it relates to the lunar phase," Boulaise said, explaining the nature of their research.
"Most of our recordings are sounds from natural reefs that are carefully calibrated to line with the moon."
More information about their research and work for coral preservation can be found here.
This story aired on The Conversation on Oct. 23, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
