How bad is our noise problem?

CrowdScience

BBC

Science, Technology

4.8 • 985 Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2023

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We generate a huge amount of noise, whether it’s our rumbling roads, pumping parties, or talkative tourists. And the topic of noise also generates a lot of questions from our listeners. In this episode we explore three of them, with the help of acoustic scientist Kurt Fristrup and neuropsychologist Catherine Loveday.

Listener Dominique finds it hard to experience even one minute of a natural soundscape without some intrusion of human-made noise. He wonders how noise pollution is affecting both the natural world and us humans. We discuss just how noisy our modern world is, and visit a National Park in California to hear how they’re encouraging more peace and quiet there.

Meanwhile Michelle, having witnessed her husband wince in pain at the sound of squeaking takeaway boxes, asks why certain noises are particularly unpleasant or even painful to some people.

And finally, Jennifer has a sonic mystery for us to solve: why does the time of day make such a difference to the distant noises reaching her remote home?

With contributions from Professor Catherine Loveday, Dr Kurt Fristrup and Mia Monroe.

Additional audio courtesy of the U.S. National Park Service/Patrick Myers, Dominique Laloux, Boise State University/Jesse Barber, and KCSU/Asher Korn

Presenter: Anand Jagatia Producer: Cathy Edwards Studio Managers: Bob Nettles and Jackie Margerum

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of
0:07.0	Happiness Podcast.
0:08.0	For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want
0:14.4	to share that science with you.
0:16.1	And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley.
0:19.4	I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that
0:25.4	calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:29.7	Love Janessa, a brand new true crime podcast from the BBC World Service and
0:37.4	CBC Podcasts. It's a story about love, deceit, and survival, and it's available now.
0:44.0	Find out more at the end of this podcast.
0:51.0	Hello and welcome to Crowd Science from the BBC World Service. I'm Anan Jagatia and this is the show that aims to cut through the noise of inaccurate information, unsubstantiated claims and flimsy evidence to find the answers to your science questions.
1:06.0	And that might be a bit trickier this week than usual because today our subject is actually noise.
1:14.0	Ah, much better.
1:17.0	Now what actually counts as noise is subjective.
1:20.0	We're thinking of it in this show as unwanted sounds and judging from the crowd science inbox it seems that it's an issue that affects lots of you
1:28.6	Here to help answer three of your questions we have to experts. So experts could you please
1:34.6	introduce yourselves and just to balance things out because we are going to be
1:38.2	hearing some unpleasant sounds later in this show could you please tell us what your
1:42.4	favorite sounds are?
1:44.0	Hi, I'm Catherine Love Day. I'm a professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Westminster.
1:49.0	And I love the sound of babies laughing, but I also really love the sound of babies laughing but I also really love the sound of waves
1:55.6	lapping on the shore.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -779 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.