How Do Cicadas Sound?

🎙️ The Sound

It doesn’t sneak up on you.

A cicada screams.

Not a sharp cry…

but a blasting buzz,

like a fire alarm trapped in a tree.

It starts low…

like a phone vibrating on wood.

Then it rises —

higher…
and higher…

until it drills into your skull
like an electric saw.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!

Not one.

Not two.

Hundreds.

All at once.

The air starts to shimmer.

It’s so loud,
it feels like heat.

It makes people flinch,

cover their ears,

or cuss out loud.

If you can hear it,

you can’t un-hear it.

But if you can’t…

you might see the ripple of leaves when they rise.

You might feel the hum in your chest if you’re close.

You’ll notice people swatting the air
like they're fighting ghosts.

It’s not a cute sound.

It’s not peaceful.

It’s relentless.

Like nature holding a microphone to your ear
and screaming,

“I’m alive!”

That’s the sound of a cicada.

Not just noise…

a full-body takeover.

✨ No Sound? No Problem

You don’t need to hear cicadas to understand them.

It looks like the air vibrating all around you.
It feels like pressure that won’t let up.
It moves like something constant that fills every space.

It’s not just a sound.

It’s intensity.
It’s environment.
It’s the moment nature becomes impossible to ignore.

🧠 Interpreter Notes (ASL)

• Use repetition and increasing intensity to show the rising, relentless nature of the sound.

• Vibrate hands or use rhythmic motion near the head to represent the continuous buzzing.

• Show escalation — start small, then build to overwhelming full-body expression.

• Use facial intensity to reflect discomfort, pressure, and inability to escape the sound.

• Represent “all around” using circular or expanding movement in space.

• Mimic physical reactions — flinching, covering ears, reacting to overload.

• Interpret “heat-like sound” as pressure or vibration filling the space.

• End with sustained motion — showing that the sound doesn’t stop quickly.

🟣 George’s Media LLC

No Sound? No Problem — a series that translates sound into imagery and movement so it can be experienced without hearing.