Optical illusions are always great entertainment. It’s so amazing that our eyes and brains distort signals to the point where seeing is no longer quite believing. You’ll never guess what I found in the museum collections stores; a cassette tape of auditory illusions, among the files of a retired curator. When you listen to this podcast you will need stereo headphones or stereo speakers to get the full effect of the auditory illusions. One illusion is so amazing that everyone in the room hears something different. Enjoy the trip these sounds will take you on... they are un-real.

Sounding out the truth, Dr Andi

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Download audio illusion ringtone
Download Federation Bells playing Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 ringtone
(Not an auditory illusion, but aren’t the bells pretty?)

Boy listening to a crystal set radio through head-phones in his backyard, 1925 | Visual illusion from The Mind: Enter the Labyrinth | Geoff Holden (retired curator)

Show notes

Museum Victoria Resources

The Mind: Enter the Labyrinth exhibition

More information

You can down load illusions from various sites

• Prof Diana Deutsch’s site
• Deutsch’s Musical Illusions
• More audio illusions
• Tonal language and pitch

Interviewees (in order of appearance)

Geoff Holden – Former MV Curator of Science & Technology (Retired 1996)
Prof Diana Deutsche – Professor of Psychology, University of California, San Diego USA

Interviews and production by

Dr Andi Horvath – Senior Curator, Museum Victoria
Arch Cuthbertson – Podcast Recording Services