The Sounds of Coastal Erosion: The development of a Cliff listening Podcast

Date published: 29th May 2026

In 2024, Coastwise was exploring novel ways for people to interact with the coast and learn about coastal change.

We wanted to explore coastal erosion in a new way and an idea formed, based on an exploration of the coast using a different human sense - not ordinarily associated with signs of coastal change. Coastal change – can we see it? Yes, but can we hear it?

The Coastwise team commissioned a cliff listening project in collaboration with the National Trust at Sheringham Park and the HomeSounds project. By tapping into an existing listening project, Coastwise engaged young people with coastal change through a sensory educational experience. 

The concept of cliff listening was inspired by existing work listening to other sounds in nature, such as the stridulation of different species of crickets, or the sound of the wind in a reedbed, the biosonification of a fungus, or the sound of popping bubbles from plants photosynthesising in a pond.

But is there such a thing as geosonification? Can we find audio evidence of change? From the movement of grains of sand, to the sounds of different geological layers within a cliff face, to the sound of the waves breaking.

We aimed to listen to the cliffs and the rock pools, the sea and the sand, and the soon-to-be-lost topography of these places, and also to explore, more generally, the physical, human, and, of most interest to us, acoustic nature of coastal erosion.

A group of children from Sidestrand School recorded sounds at two locations, Happisburgh and West Runton. Equipped with various types of microphones, including hydrophones and geophones.

During the recording, the group listened to the sounds of rockpools and the movements of lugworms excavating their tunnels in the sand.

A podcast was created using recorded sounds and children talking about their discoveries, with commentary from Coastwise.

If you want to listen to the podcast to find out what we did and what a cliff sounds like, click this link - HomeSounds - West Runton And Happisburgh - Sounds Of Coastal Erosion