Immersive film allows humans to hear like orcas By: AV Kitching Posted: 6:08 PM CDT Tuesday, Jun. 3, 2025

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This article was published 03/06/2025 (500 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Museum’s latest exhibition invites visitors to dive deep into the waters of the Salish Sea and immerse themselves in the world of the endangered southern resident killer whales.

The augmented-reality experience Critical Distance is a 15-minute animated film that launches its Canadian tour in Winnipeg for Ocean Week 2025, and will be showing at the Science Gallery until Aug. 31.

The film, on tour with Nature Canada in association with the Alliance of Natural History Museums of Canada, makes a strong case for ocean conservation, says Scott Mullenix from Nature Canada.

“Some people get pretty emotional going through the experience. We want to take that emotion and engagement and turn it into something useful for the orca pod and the ocean that Nature Canada is trying to protect. We thought a great way to do that would be to have visitors understand the different roles they can play,” he says.

The immersive short focuses on the J Pod, one of three pods in the acoustic clan who are residents of the waters. The audience follows eight-year-old orca Kiki and her family as they navigate the challenges thrown up by human activity.

Sound is vital to the orca whales, who use echolocation to communicate, and sound pollution is threatening the pod’s ability to hunt, bond and navigate.

The term “critical distance” refers to the point in space where direct sound, such as an orca’s call, is equal in intensity to reverberant or background noise.

Placed in the middle of the pod, viewers hear and see the clicks, whistles and calls the members of the pod use to communicate with each other.

These vocalizations are typically effective across long distances in a natural ocean environment, but the orcas, who live beneath a busy shipping area, struggle to make themselves heard.

“Some people get pretty emotional going through the experience. We want to take that emotion and engagement and turn it into something useful.”–Scott Mullenix

Human activity, especially from boats, ships and underwater construction, has introduced significant noise pollution into marine habitats.

This background noise effectively reduces the critical distance, which means orcas have to be much closer to each other before their calls are distinguishable from the surrounding noise.

Submerged underwater with Kiki, the contrast in the varying sounds different vessels make become obvious – paddle boats barely make a splash, but motorboats and trawlers jar the quiet, littering the water with their loud vibrations.

Sounds are translated into visuals so the audience can see what the orcas hear; it’s a simple but effective method to experience the world from an entirely different perspective.

After the AR animation, visitors are invited to join the movement to protect Canada’s ocean by connecting directly with ocean conservation experts through Nature Canada’s Ask the Experts section.

Visitors can ask whatever they want about orcas, threats to the Salish Sea or the ocean in general. Their questions will be sent to experts who include Adam Olsen, lead negotiator and member of Tsartlip First Nation; Julia Laforge, protected areas policy manager at Nature Canada; and Rebecca Brushett, marine planning and engagement co-ordinator at Ecology Action Centre, who will reply with answers.

The hope is that the experience will encourage people to lobby for change to protect one of the country’s most endangered marine mammals — at last count, there were fewer than 80 southern resident killer whales in the Salish Sea.

av.kitching@freepress.mb.ca