Single-point hot-wire measurements in the bulk of a turbulent channel have been performed in order to detect and quantify the phenomenon of preferential bubble accumulation. We show that statistical analysis of the bubble-probe colliding-time series can give a robust method for investigation of clustering in the bulk regions of a turbulent flow where, due to the opacity of the flow, no imaging technique can be employed. We demonstrate that microbubbles (R0≃100μm) in a developed turbulent flow, where the Kolmogorov-length scale is η≃R0, display preferential concentration in small scale structures with a typical statistical signature ranging from the dissipative range, O(η), up to the low inertial range O(100η). A comparison to Eulerian–Lagrangian numerical simulations is also presented to further support our proposed way to characterize clustering from temporal time series at a fixed position.