Oceans sing, are you listening? Sounding out potentials for artistic audio engagements with science through the Polar Sounds project

Acknowledgement of the growing crises facing our oceans has seen the increased visibility of watery spaces in policy initiatives and governance strategies. A good example is the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030). This international effort is designed to coordinate activities (from regional to national levels and beyond) that promote and develop knowledge of our seas and oceans to manage them for future generations. Societies everywhere, the Decade admits, are disconnected from these issues and despite the apparent growth of awareness (through popular televised documentaries and other public outputs that highlight the plight of ocean worlds) finding avenues to increase public understanding of ocean science in innovative and inspirational ways is being seen as critical for further engagement. In this article, we discuss efforts to connect society with the sea, focusing on how sound is a productive sensory medium for promoting ocean understanding. Drawing from a worldwide art-science collaboration, Polar Sounds , which united scientific acoustic data with musicians and sound artists around the globe, we make audible the potentials of embracing what is heard in our ocean worlds. The Ocean Decade alongside growing academic scholarship posits that ocean engagement, citizenship and connection is crucial to harness change that can improve the fate of flailing seas and that art-science collaborations can be crucial in building such bridges. We outline the Polar Sounds project, before arguing the need for further work that sounds out the potentials for engaging and inspiring alternative oceanic understandings and connections.