The astonishing underground sounds from the largest organism on Earth, and how they could help soothe your stress away

• Pando is the largest organism on Earth, consisting of about 40,000 genetically identical trees.
• Sound designer Jeff Rice recorded what this organism's vast root system sounds like in a rainstorm.

Make the trek into south-central Utah's Fishlake National Forest and you'll discover what's considered the largest organism on Earth: the Pando tree.

At first glance, Pando looks like any other forest consisting of individual trees.

But in 2008, scientists confirmed that these 40,000 or so towering trunks are actually genetically identical branches connected by the same root system.

In other words, Pando is one giant, singular organism that spans about 103 acres, or roughly the size of 78 American football fields.

Jeff Rice, a sound designer at the Montana State University Library, recently captured the sounds of this trembling giant — and the resulting recordings are so soothing, they may even ease some stress.

What the largest organism on Earth sounds like

Rice's work involves recording the sounds of various natural environments and then archiving them on the Acoustic Atlas site.

He first became captivated by Pando while on an assignment for The New York Times Magazine in 2018, and then in 2022 got the opportunity to record it when he landed an artist residency through the nonprofit organization Friends of Pando.

Rice used a variety of microphones to capture a wide range of sounds — from the early morning birds and the fluttering leaves to unidentified creatures moving within the tree cavity.

Jessica Orwig · Early morning birds

But the sound that astonished him most was when he placed a hydrophone — a special microphone typically used to record underwater sounds — at the root of a branch about 60 feet tall during a thunderstorm.

Jessica Orwig · Rumbling roots

Hydrophones can pick up vibrations from a range of surfaces, including roots. When Rice put on his headphones, he heard a deep, soothing rumbling sound, which he thinks came from vibrations passing through the branches down into the earth as the leaves trembled and quaked in the wind and rain.

And these vibrations can travel pretty far, Rice found out after a small experiment with Friends of Pando Executive Director Lance Oditt.

After the duo gently banged on a branch 90 feet away, the hydrophone registered a low thumping sound — suggesting that vibrations can pass from tree to tree through the Earth, almost like a tin can telephone.

The sounds of Pando may soothe your stress away

Numerous studies have found that listening to nature sounds can have mood-boosting, pain-relieving, and stress-reducing effects — while even improving cognitive performance.

But new research is beginning to uncover why exactly it has this calming effect.

One small study found that listening to nature sounds triggered signs of an increase in what's called parasympathetic activity, which helps activate a sense of calm when under threat.

When the study's participants listened to artificial sounds, they didn't experience the same increase in parasympathetic activity, leading the researchers to conclude that natural nature sounds have a stronger calming effect than artificial ones.

Rice didn't record the sounds of Pando for its potential stress-relieving benefits. Rather, he believes these recordings could have immense potential for exploring the inner workings of Pando's hidden hydraulic system, root depth, insect colonies, and much more.

His recordings will be used in an art exhibit at the Jack Straw New Media Gallery in Seattle in January 2024, Rice told Insider.