natural sounds

The Library of Congress has acquired the life's work of radio producer Jim Metzner, who has spent decades traveling the world to capture rich soundscapes. While he's honored that they will be archived, he says he wants to make sure people actually listen to them.

He spent decades recording soundscapes. Now they're going to the Library of Congress

11:35am September 26, 2022

by Rachel Treisman

Jim Metzner has traveled far and wide to record sounds of the world and share them with listeners. The Library of Congress will preserve thousands of tapes and other items dating back to the 1970s.

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To Help Coral Reefs Come Back, Fake It (With Sound) 'Til Fish Make It

9:15am December 01, 2019

by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

Researchers have found that by playing the sounds of healthy reefs in places where coral has died, fish are more readily attracted back, and help speed the reef's recovery.

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A white-tailed deer keeps its ears open while grazing in South Hero, Vt.

Science

Hungry Deer May Be Changing How Things Sound In The Forest

3:37pm February 13, 2019

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Sound travels differently through open fields than the woods. When deer eat up bushes, small trees and other forest plants, it affects the transmission of bird calls and other natural sounds.

Researchers are using underwater microphones to help better understand the extensive array of animals living in oyster reefs.

The World Of An Oyster: Scientists Are Using Microphones To Spy On Reef Life

8:02am September 04, 2018

by James Morrison

Reefs are being rebuilt along U.S. coastlines, which is good for the oyster. But how does it affect other underwater life? Researchers are listening to find out what animals use the reefs and why.

A white-throated round-eared bat (Tonatia silvicola) catches — and munches — a katydid on Barro Colorado Island in Panama. Katydids are "the potato chips of the rain forest," scientists say.

Sound Matters: Sex And Death In The Rain Forest

5:18pm April 04, 2017

Scientists eavesdropping in trees have decoded a high stakes game of hide and seek. Katydids rely on ultrasound to find mates and listen for bats, which use ultrasound to find the bugs, and eat them.

Moraine Park is a grassy valley inside Rocky Mountain National Park.

Beyond Sightseeing: You'll Love The Sound Of America's Best Parks

12:51pm June 29, 2016

The National Park Service is racing to record soundscapes of each park that capture nature for the ear. "If we start to lose sounds of wilderness, we start to lose a piece of us," one scientist says.

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How Sound Shaped The Evolution Of Your Brain

4:06pm September 10, 2015

by Bill McQuay

Sound gets into our brains and processed so quickly that it shapes all other perceptions, says neuroscientist Seth Horowitz. "You hear anywhere from 20 to 100 times faster than you see."

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Male treehoppers make their abdomens thrum like tuning forks to transmit very particular vibrating signals that travel down their legs and along leaf stems to other bugs — male and female.

Good Vibrations Key To Insect Communication

3:52pm August 27, 2015

by Christopher Joyce

For some insects, sound waves or vibrations are the real social media — high-speed rumbles sent through the air and along leaf stems to help the bugs claim territory, send warnings and find mates.

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African forest elephants stampede in the Central African Republic jungle.

To Decode Elephant Conversation, You Must Feel The Jungle Rumble

1:00pm August 20, 2015

by Bill McQuay

The trumpeting roar of an elephant is loud. But scientists living with herds in the forests of central Africa say the deep rumbles that humans can't hear, but can feel, carry crucial messages, too.

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Humpback whales and tanker in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary in Massachusetts Bay.

Listening To Whale Migration Reveals A Sea Of Noise Pollution, Too

4:24pm August 19, 2015

by Christopher Joyce

Christopher Clark, an engineer turned whale biologist, wired the world's oceans with hydrophones. Whales sing as they migrate, he learned. And the ship sounds clouding the ocean can deeply interfere.

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