Sound propagates in air or fluid as acoustic waves, while vibration travels through solid media as elastic waves, including P waves, S waves, surface waves, and other waves. These waves carry rich information about their sources and the properties of the propagation medium. Humans can perceive only a small portion of these signals; however, audio and seismic sensors can capture a much broader spectrum, including signals beyond the range of human hearing.

Unlike visual images, sound and vibration signals are inherently encoded forms of data, whose meaning cannot be directly interpreted through simple observation. Over more than 140 years, geophysicists have developed advanced processing and inversion methodologies to extract physical information from these signals. These technologies have enabled deeper understanding of earthquake physics and the delineation of subsurface structures for resource exploration, often from extremely weak reflections and subtle waveforms buried in noise.

LifeSeis develops AI models that decode the physics of acoustic and elastic waves in urban environments, revealing information beyond human perception and enabling safer, more resilient societies.