The world around us is filled with sound. Within our homes, sound plays an important role in identifying the living things around us, and can help us notice and appreciate our cohabitants. Yet one of our most prevalent cohabitants is excluded from this dimension.

This project presents an exploration into biodata-sonification as a way to give plants an audible identity. Through this audible identity, houseplants become active participants in the home’s soundscape and are enabled to give information about their health as well as the quality of their environment. This creates a symbiotic relationship between human and plant, carried by sound.

Through non-intrusive biosensors, electrical variations on the surface of the plant are collected and mapped into notes. These are sent to plant-specific digital instruments. Additional sensors modify the stream of music based on environmental factors. The resulting device is compact, modular and uses expressive light signals as visual feedback.