Natural silence is now impossible to find anywhere in the lower 48. Forty years ago back in Vermont, I was occasionally able to find it during massive snow storms that would shut down the entire area.

Now such silence is unknown to almost everyone, and I don’t think they really care about noise pollution. I can no longer find a place that does not have the incessant din of airplanes overhead, and the roar of vehicles everywhere else. I had lived near a house for 12 years that had two dogs chained to the structure..Those dogs barked almost constantly for all of those 12 years, day and night. It never bothered most people, like it bothered me.

On September 11th, (as bad as that day was), I went outside and realized that the grounding of all airplanes had cut the noise by half. I guess once I really absorbed a natural silence into my memory, then everything else seemed distasteful…Like tasting a really good wine, makes all the wine below it seem like Kool-Aid.

We just returned from a trip to the city, and were overwhelmed by the noise. It was the single most notable feature of our trip. We were so happy to return to the peace of our home in Vermont. We are concerned about what that noise must do to people living with it daily. People get used to it, but at what cost?

Silence …..

I remember walking down the path on our farm with our feet rustling through the leaves and being the loudest sound around.

Now, Rtes 495 and 290 and the Solomon Pond Mall are all that I can hear even though we are more than a mile away from all three.

I miss that silences so much.

I moved to Western Massachusetts but the silence is still not the same with fat and stupid Harley-Davidson motorcycles racing up and down every road.

Nick

I like the shows but the bumper music is so incongruous that it makes me want to shut it off. I cannot understand why you feel that techno music would be appreciated by your demographic. My guess is the vast majority of your listeners hate it.

Earplugs are golden!

i went to alaska last year and found some amazing space for my mind…it was as if i had gone back in time.

i also love being out on the ocean – the silence above the water is amazing. unfortunately there’s so much human noise under the water it’s effecting the whales in an incredibly negative way.

I have gone to unbelievable lengths to hear no man made noise in America.

It’s incredibly hard to find. Even in the middle of the Rocky mountains.

My family vacationed in the Olympic National Park last summer and hiked along remote Lillian Ridge. It was the most silent place I have been since my childhood. We just sat and listened to the wind and the hawks and complete solitude. It was more beautiful than the spectacular scenery.

As always, thank you for this wonderful topic!

I was in Glacier Nat’l park a few years ago, and will never forget having the peaceful silience of my hike being constantly broken by helicoptor tours that were flying overhead. The park had no power over this noise polution (Which is what it is. You couldn’t throw trash on the ground… but you can buzz a helicoptor at treeline!!) and the FAA didn’t care.

I signed the petition, indeed.

What a wonderful topic! I live in Vermont and couldn’t help but think of the bird songs as a beautiful symphony. When you mentioned during the show that silence is nature’s music I want to pass along that I wholeheartedly agree!

The sounds are amazing… silence in nature is such a gift. When my husband and I have taken long hikes, back-country, in the southwest, our big escape, our gift begins when we can no longer hear the cars/highway noise from the trailhead parking. That is when I feel the adventure really begins. Absolute silence has been an experience I’ve had in caving… not a sound or just a trickle of water, the drop of water, and no light. That is a powerful experience.

Grand Canyon has been a favorite place for hiking and discovery, it always feels a little bit like an intrusion when you hear helicopters overhead.

It says something to us, and we need to pause and ponder, when we have companies producing noise-canceling headphones for us to wear. Why not just eliminate the noise through proper public policy and community action?

On this earth day I think it is important that listeners understand the unhealthy levels of noise pollution contributed by Wind Towers. Manufacturers like to call these wind farms but in truth they are industrial wind power plants. We own a second home on a lake in the serene and peaceful Northeast Kingdom in Vermont. Guests comment how quiet it is and as a result relaxing. This is what attracted us to this area. Residents of this area have been fighting the construction of wind towers that will stand over 400 feet tall on a ridge overlooking the lake. It is not unusual for towers to generate over 70 db of noise. In rural areas around the US where these have been constructed, residents have been treated for nervous disorders. State legislators and regulators are turning a deaf ear on this reality. It is truly heartbreaking. Let us be clear, we do not mind looking at them, we mind hearing them.

Could the guest please talk about loud sound/noise addictions. I have had neighbors that literally always needed noisy toys, car alarms, etc. running all the time.
btw the hoh river trail changed my life.

Thakns for this show

Just thought about a couple of favorite sounds…

In the Southwest … rattlesnakes — amazing sound and yes, it stops you in your tracks! : )

In the Northeast… ice. I never knew ice had sounds, the gurgling water underneath the ice and ice cracking – beautiful.

Thank you Gordon for bringing attention to this. I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. I now love in Vermont, and love the decrease in dB! However, as you say, there are still times that a din is present. Shortly after moving here, I sat out back, noticed that there were no airliners overhead (even high-altitude), sank into the silence, and wept. Concurrently, I saw the night sky as I have never seen it. I think I treasure this more than the locals, and my 3 children also appreciate it.

Thanks Gordon. Please keep up the good work.

John DeCicco
Brandon, VT

PS: Can you tell me what equipment you use? I worked as an asst audio engineer in NYC. I’d love to record the local sounds (or lack of!).

Thanks again, Gordon.
John

Well, you want to talk about noise pollution. I live in what was onetime a beautiful neighborhood in Virginia Beach, VA. The Oceana Naval Air Station is approximately 4 miles away, by flight of the crow.

Not long ago, the Navy replaced their F-14 Tomcats with this damn thing from hell called a ‘Super Hornet’. It is around 100 times louder than the previously almost inaudible F-14’s.

Now, you can’t even hear yourself talk much less the birds, frogs and bees. My cat cowers and is not interested in even going outside anymore. Hell, i’m listening to this broadcast with a pair of headphones (circumaural!!).

It’s horrible. They have destroyed our community, but when we complain we are met by the extreme righties who say ‘Sound of Freedom’ and ‘the base was there first’.

Some people just don’t get it.

I’m saving up to get the hell out of here and on to someplace like the heaven you describe.

Hi Gordon,
I was in the Northern India, very remote, and wandered out of my hut at night (4am) in winter and I heard nothing…I mean nothing. No wind, No insects or wildlife. Then very faintly I heard something. I held my breath. Then I heard it Loud and Clear…my heartbeat.

That ever happen to you.

PS I am a pro audio engineer as well.

I just have to say not everyone can live with a national park as there backyard. If we did there would be now quiet places left. Better to live in the noisy city and go visit nature on the weekends. Though, I must say it is nice to have some parks in the city to get some quiet.

I love the dead silence of the open desert, and the spacious quiet up in the mountains. It’s been too long.

I know several people who use TV to keep themselves company, some who can’t sleep without it. Generally these people don’t like to be alone. I wonder how appreciation of silence is connected.

That really sucked that we didn’t get to hear nature’s largest violin!

Mr. Hempton,
I love to hear the silence within the silence. Sometime when I am not in the a quiet place, I can train myself to hear the silence from those noises.

Hi Gordon,

We met in Harper’s Ferry during an NPS workshop probably ten years ago. You gave me some great perspectives on the natural quiet issues.

It is still possible to find natural quiet, but you have to search off-hours and off-season. Two examples..
Evening and nighttime can be very quiet. We spend a lot of time in Bar Harbor. Go there in the winter. Often, all I can hear is the bell buoy out in Frenchman’s bay. I was in Yellowstone two months ago. We drove out toward Cook City into the Lamar Valley and got out of the car. We could see for probably 10 miles in all directions and not a sound was to be heard.

I created a map of the U.S. showing where transportation noise is noticeable during a typical mid-day hour. It’s quite interesting how, as you know, aircraft dominate virtually the entire country – and that was only commercial operations. You can find the maps at: http://www.hmmh.com/cmsdocuments/N011.pdf

Finally, there’s a book coming out soon about noise – It’s by Garret Keizer “The Unwanted Sound of Everything we Want” Get it – It’s super.

Nick and Todd: RE: Harleys…we couldn’t stand it any longer and moved. But we lost money because of it. I’m still angry. So much of the Harley noise is just show off noise; it’s not true transportation noise; it’s narcissism — and other people can’t escape, even inside their own houses! Right now, the guest is speaking about his hearing loss from excess noise: the same thing happened to me. It took a couple of years (and moving), but my hearing is finally getting somewhat better, but lots of noise can jar my hearing back into the bad place that was caused by other peoples’ noise!

RE: ear plugs. It’s very important that you speak with an audiologist!! I got tested for some, but then the audiologist found out I wanted to use them to block out the noise that came in randomly, but SO intrusively, into my home environment from Harleys, etc. Hearing that, she would not give me the ear plugs. MY understanding of the explanation is this: earplugs are OK for a constant noise in a specific place. But, apparently, our brains are constantly cruising our noise environment, and if you wear earplugs for random noise, your brain loses its ability to do that cruising, and so your brain can eventually even lose the ability to distinguish a bus coming at you at 50 mph from a bumblebee. Check with an audiologist for a better explanation, because your legitimate attempt to escape noise may be causing you to get hearing loss! Apparently, some federal environmental legislation almost included noise pollution regulation, but President Reagan wouldn’t sign the bill.

Thanks for another interesting show!

I live on two wooded acres in a shoreline town that is trying its best to control population growth; I grew up in this town and feel blessed to be able to still live here, but I don’t know that I’ll always feel that way. It seems like people need more and more space and stuff. Building lots are zoned bigger now but more trees are cleared during construction so the noise barrier is gone; power equipment is used for every little task, and everyone drives everywhere. And taking time off seems to be out of the question. People fire up their equipment early in the morning and my neighbor’s kids ride their quads through the woods until 8 pm this time of year. I’m not sure if the problem is congestion, lack of courtesy, or inability to just sit, be, and listen.

GHR,

…”Lack of courtesy”!

What a fantastic, and soothing piece. For as long as I can remember I’ve been highly sensitive to sound. As a child I can remember getting so worked up that I would cry when the vacuum cleaner came on. Needless to say, modern day noise-levels, I feel, tarnishes the beauty which exists all around us and most importantly, hinders us from connecting to Spirit, or soul, or whatever it is one calls their inner-self. It was refreshing to listen to Mr. Hempton and the various callers who share some of my sentiments.

Thanks for another wonderful show, and for introducing us to Mr. Hempton and his amazing body of work!

Loved the show! Bernie Seigal the cancer specialist said everybody needs 15 minutes a day of real silence, to heal. I concur. After working with 200 kids a day in the public school system, I go to the river for an hour and run my dog. I do not want to hear a human voice. I do notw ant to visit. I looooove it. I can then handle anything. In the morning, no noise, just birds, expresso and a notebook to write in, HEAVEN. lastly, in the Caribbean, to wake to the sound of a natural broom sweeping is a beautiful noise. In this country, I would like to see leaf blowers banned for good. The noise level in my dinky neighborhood is ridiculous, it’s like a chain reaction. One nieghbor after another out ” blowing leaves”…I love the rake. Power mowers too, it’s one house after another, errrrrrraahjhhhhh it’s all you hear in the summer many afternoons, soooo ridiculous. Can we just outlaw them? It’s become an epidemic in the north country .

“RE: ear plugs…”
Posted by Pete

@ Pete:
Hey, thanks for that info! I didn’t realize casual earplug use could have such a negative effect on one’s hearing. Geez, deaf if ya do, and deaf if ya don’t.

BTW, I 100% hear you regarding the Harley-Davidson complaint. Mechanical farting machines on two wheels—totally obnoxious.

I am an airline pilot and maybe because my profession is such a noisy one, I have come to crave the silent places. I love the feeling that one gets in silent places of your ears trying to work harder to hear something. I apologize for my industries’ noisy footprint and wholeheartedly support your efforts to protect the silent places. Keep listening. Thank you, Paul

As commendable as the work of …Gordon Hempton… and this article are; it will do next to nothing to alleviate the situation. As long as private property rights trump public property rights, as long as ownership of land is treated like ownership of a car, as long as people can reap windfall profits from buying and selling land, as long as developers can profit from turning nature into roads, malls and unneeded single family homes, as long as municipalities can improve their financial situation by robbing more and more from nature; so long will noise pollution, light pollution, the continued degradation of the environment remain inevitable. If we were serious with our concern for the earth, we would long have updated the American constitution accordingly. But before that will happen, hell will freeze over.
Holy, holy, holy is the [American]system; which was and is and ever shall be. Amen!

A.Helmut frustrated citizen

Oh! Try to work with loud people, sometimes I wish I have ear plugs! Some people don’t even realize they are loud, they don’t care if someone’s on the phone, they keep talking loud right next to you. Talk about common courteous.

I’m enjoying the interview with Gordon Hempton. I walk in a lot of big cities and small towns and the occasional state park, and I’ve found myself appreciating more and more the intervals when the man-made sounds at least diminish in intensity. It’s surprising the volume difference I find just by turning a corner.
This morning I was walking in an area of Louisville that is particularly car-oriented and found that the noise volume was not only high, but continuously so and I was unable to find a block where it was substantially less. (I had to resort to a difference sense and enjoy the smell of freshly cut grass.) So I especially appreciated hearing about Mr. Hempton and his work once I came back inside.
The western meadowlark was indeed beautiful. At home in Montana I enjoy hearing the meadowlarks come back in the spring. Strangely enough, one of the best places to hear them around my home is in a relatively quiet corner of the Billings airport. I guess we just need to appreciate sonic beauty wherever we find it.
Thanks very much for your program.

A very fine show…doubted there were as many people as I heard so very interested in quiet spaces. I am a retired recording engineer and have “worked” at listening for years. I trust my ears. My little zoom H4 goes with me on all my travels. My favorite bird is the wood thrush. I once sat in the quiet of my Adirondack foothill cabin and heard, in the silence, the sound of a solitary bark beetle, eating away at a dead balsam tree. I never shared this with anyone, but I recorded it and enjoy the “sound” to this day. Also, if you are in town or city, try sometime in a large stone church. They have amazing reverberant spaces, and except for heating systems (blower fans) the quiet can be very loud !

What a great topic! How about noise that is intentionally thrust our way? Does anyone else find it annoying to be bombarded with messages while pumping gas? How about that great benefit of digital television, the ability to make advertising much louder than the program you were just watching? Perhaps it’s always been that way, but it seems much more noticeable now with digital TV. It’s become a habit for me to turn down the volume when a commercial break starts and turn it back up when the program comes on. While airlines overhead remain a problem in remote areas, the noise of traffic is ubiquitous. I lived in a rural area and was astounded at the noise one car made driving through the valley. Particularly noticeable at night, one car would break the silence and be heard approaching the vicinity from several miles away and continuing for perhaps one mile after passing. At 45 mph that’s about 4 minutes of not silence per car. During the day, forget it–too many cars to even notice the existence of silence.

Having lived in a city apartment in Boston with loud music and stomping upstairs and 18-wheelers, fire trucks, and ambulances directly outside, I had to move to get some peace and quiet.

But on the other hand the squawks, tweets, and honks of animals in the wilderness may sound pleasing to our ears, but in reality these are mating call, threats, territorial displays and warnings that animals make naturally to find mates and keep competitors at bay. Humans make sounds too, and while I find some of them unpleasant and excessive, neither do I want to turn down the volume until I have to tip-toe, whisper, and forego air travel to satisfy someone’s fascination with silence.

We shouldn’t romanticize animal noises as musical treats while disparaging our own as unnatural and offensive. Unless you want to pack it up and move to a monastery, living means making a certain amount of commotion.

My wife and I have had one very unique silence experience on the island of Djerba off the Tunisian coast in 1963. We had driven there from the city of Tunis, and one late afternoon, as the sun was setting over the Mediterranean Sea, and the still waters blended into the sky horizon, there were no perceptible sounds at all. A bit later, we could see a local Arab riding his camel miles in the distance. Each step of the camel reached our ears in a distinct tap which we had never experienced before and never since. How grateful we are to have enjoyed that profound silence and its soft, distinct interruption!

As a young girl in NE PA I would open my window during a snow fall and listen to the sparkle of the snow landing on the roof, smell the snow and taste it. The quiet was profound. Yet in stark contrast, there were many times when sonic booms from jet fighters would rattle a deep sleep. Sound memories are as deep as smell memory – at least I think so.

@ gemli:
Well put! Your perspective presents a rational balance between the extremes.

Thank you all for listening and I wish that I had time to respond to each and everyone of you. I am on the road at the moment but I want to say that you are welcome to visit http://www.onesquareinch.org and find directions to the quietest place in the lower 48. Quiet is quieting and there is power in it. We WILL be able to save silence in the wild and we all have a lot to look forward to. Again, thank you for listening–Gordon

Very happy to hear the program and see there are so many people who appreciate what Gordon’s capturing.

If anyone is interested there is a feature length documentary about Gordon coming out soon.

http://www.soundtrackerthemovie.com

Rebeca: “We just returned from a trip to the city, and were overwhelmed by the noise. It was the single most notable feature of our trip. We were so happy to return to the peace of our home in Vermont. We are concerned about what that noise must do to people living with it daily. People get used to it, but at what cost?”

i am living in China–the noise is unbearable. i think it has eroded my health dramatically. When i do find silence (not absolute silence), i cherish it. i seek it out.

Gemli: “living means making a certain amount of commotion.”

i see what you mean, but I disagree. Silence, and non-human noise in nature is very therapeutic. A human voice, if tender, is welcome sometimes or often, but many,squawking or angry, etc. can just be disturbing sometimes. On the other hand, I enjoy city life as well. Everything in it’s place. but if I can’t escape the crowds, i go crazy.

To me living is being in sync with nature–not disturbing with commotion

I love waking up to birdsong in my urban/suburban neighborhood. It starts sometimes as early as 4:15 am and it is wonderful. A couple of minutes past 5:00 am I can start hearing the airplanes in the sky from Logan Airport.

The closest time I was actually aware of silence (diminshed silence at least) was a few years ago while on a walk in the woods in the Lamberts Cove section of Marthas Vinyard. I suddenly was aware of the sound of the wind through trees, shrubs, grass, and sand. We all stopped and just savored it for a few minutes. Tonic for the soul.

I work in Boston and what I can’t stand is various establishments retail and bars/restaurants) who have outside speakers blaring with music.

[...] [...]

I remember my first trip to Africa and spending a month in the Okavango Delta and having my first experience with “no noise”, other than the sounds of nature. I was in a tent along the river and felt as though I was the first person on the planet. When I returned a month later to Johannesburg for my flight home, I sat on the sidewalk and cried because the sound of planes, cars and the hustling of people made me so emotional. I wanted to go back to Botswana where I felt safe and calm. The crazy thing was when I went into the airport and found that the war had broken out in Iraq made me feel that life was too crazy with all this noise and heartbreak. Gordy, I get it!!

The Indictment Read Aloud

The noise is everywhere now,
even here, miles from nowhere,
as news and great maps tell it.
It runs down the hill, cutting
more trees than exhaust pollutes.
It offends clouds with long streaks,
mocking thunder with a roar
that swears it’s going somewhere.
The unseen highway peddles
its wares beyond the south ridge,
chasing a destination.
The aspen stops its rattling,
no doubt from embarrassment,
and the noise does not miss it,
knowing nothing of quaking.
And worst of all, every mouth
is full of the noise — giggling,
disputing, complaining — fun
at the edge of every lip,
ready to flay anyone
daring to call a cease fire,
committing that treason,
the sin of contemplation.
For that you’ll hear yourself die.

“RE: ear plugs…”
Posted by Pete

@ Pete:
Hey, thanks for that info! I didn’t realize casual earplug use could have such a negative effect on one’s hearing. Geez, deaf if ya do, and deaf if ya don’t.

BTW, I 100% hear you regarding the Harley-Davidson complaint. Mechanical farting machines on two wheels—totally obnoxious.

Having lived in a city apartment in Boston with loud music and stomping upstairs and 18-wheelers, fire trucks, and ambulances directly outside, I had to move to get some peace and quiet.

But on the other hand the squawks, tweets, and honks of animals in the wilderness may sound pleasing to our ears, but in reality these are mating call, threats, territorial displays and warnings that animals make naturally to find mates and keep competitors at bay. Humans make sounds too, and while I find some of them unpleasant and excessive, neither do I want to turn down the volume until I have to tip-toe, whisper, and forego air travel to satisfy someone’s fascination with silence.

We shouldn’t romanticize animal noises as musical treats while disparaging our own as unnatural and offensive. Unless you want to pack it up and move to a monastery, living means making a certain amount of commotion.

Thank you all for listening and I wish that I had time to respond to each and everyone of you. I am on the road at the moment but I want to say that you are welcome to visit http://www.onesquareinch.org and find directions to the quietest place in the lower 48. Quiet is quieting and there is power in it. We WILL be able to save silence in the wild and we all have a lot to look forward to. Again, thank you for listening–Gordon

Thank you all for listening and I wish that I had time to respond to each and everyone of you. I am on the road at the moment but I want to say that you are welcome to visit http://www.onesquareinch.org and find directions to the quietest place in the lower 48. Quiet is quieting and there is power in it. We WILL be able to save silence in the wild and we all have a lot to look forward to. Again, thank you for listening–Gordon

[...] [...]

This is a very important topic. For those who resonate with it, I would like to offer some resources:

-Radio Aporee is an incredible collection of field recordings from all over the world, mapped onto the Google Earth platform, so you can explore the earth while listening to sounds recorded in many many places. Most importantly, you can upload your own field recordings!
aporee.org/maps

-Also, for those who want to make listening a lifestyle, the Deep Listening Institute is a society, founded by the wonderful composer Pauline Oliveros, devoted to the purpose of becoming aware of and opening our ears to all the sounds around us.
http://www.deeplistening.org/site

~BPM

[...] reminded me of that long-ago case? I happened to hear an interview on NPR with acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton, a man on a quest to record the sounds of natural environments and to protect land from the [...]