Can plants sound like they’re speaking? For one day, we translated plant signals into voice-like sound using a new PlantWave experiment.

At SXSW 2026, PlantWave presented a live performance where plant bioelectrical signals became music in real time—blurring the line between instrument, organism, and composer.

Biosonification is the process of turning biological signals into sound. This guide explains how it works, how data becomes music, and how PlantWave applies it in real time.

PlantWave turns a changing electrical measurement on a plant into real-time musical output. Here's exactly how — from electrodes to conductivity signal to wave to pitch to soundset.