“When we live in cities, which most of us do, we have tuned out. We have to to survive. We stop hearing sounds. So people come here and they only hear things in about a 10-foot radius around them and they completely have to learn how to start hearing beyond.”
Begin that process of hearing with some help from park ranger Karyn O’Hearn and bio-acoustician Dr. Bernie Krause in this Soundscapes video from Yosemite National Park.
Next: Listen and try to identify the sounds within the geophony, sounds from non-biological natural sources, the biophony, sounds from living things in nature, and the anthropophony, human-made sounds, of the soundscape where you live.
And if you get the chance, plan your visit to a national park.
Related listening: WildSanctuary.com, an online database of natural sounds created by Dr. Krause.
• A blind birdwatcher who sees with sound
• Music in Objects
• Music from a Tree
• The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Bird Song Hero
Bonus: Star Parties In Our National Parks: Parks After Dark and On Light Pollution: The End of Darkness.
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