All Episodes

September 2, 2025 55 mins

Humans have filled the world with so much noise that the only sounds many of us often hear  on a daily basis are  our own. But all this sound isn’t great for our planet mates and it isn’t great for us either. In this episode, we look at how human-made sound makes it hard for other creatures to listen and communicate.

Threshold is nonprofit, listener-supported, and independently produced. You can support Threshold by donating today. To stay connected, sign up for our newsletter.

Special thanks to:

Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve

Discovery of Sound in the Sea

Scripps Whale Acoustics Lab

Ships, Whales & Acoustics in Gitga’at Territory

These sounds were recorded in Gitga’at Territory and sourced from the Ships, Whales & Acoustics in Gitga'at Territory Project, a collaborative initiative of the Gitga’at Nation, North Coast Cetacean Society (BC Whales) and WWF-Canada.

Brian Miller, Australian Antarctic Division

NOAA

Lofoten-Vesterålen Ocean Observatory

Thank you to everyone who submitted frog sounds for this episode: Andrew Cronin, Aaron Jonah Lewis, Adrienne van Eeden-Wharton, Alan Burger, Barry Truax, Bess Samuel, Cliff Bahlinger, Craig Hemsath, Curt Newton, Dan Carreno, Diogo Matias, Dr. Paola Moscoso, Edward Ruchalski, Henry Koch, Indraneil Das/UNIMAS, Jenny Skopliak, Joel Watters, Judith Smit, Karthic SS, Klaartje Van Loy, Kriistina Ovaska, Lindsey Nielsen, Mara Altman, Nancy Pick, Natalie Smith, Pablo “Rana” Diserens, Paul Williams, Ren Fergusen, Tony Wobeter, Tracy Leung, Vincent Chanter, and group shoutout to everyone on the Acoustic Ecology listserve

Mentioned in this episode:

We're So Close

This giving season listening matters. To keep making our show, Threshold needs to raise $75,000 by the end of the year — and we’re over 85% of the way there! Donate today to support science positive, wildly imaginative, and fiercely independent journalism.

Threshold is listener-funded.To keep making this work and sharing it with audiences for free, we have to raise $75,000 by the end of the year — and we’re over 80% of the way there! If you haven’t chipped in yet, consider making a gift today.

Mark as Played

Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.