Experience The Quietest Place On Earth

Short Wave

NPR

Daily News, Nature, Life Sciences, Astronomy, Science, News

4.7 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 26 August 2022

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In a crater at the top of a dormant volcano lies a place so quiet, the ambient sound is right near the threshold of human hearing. Visitors to the crater say they can hear their own heartbeats. This spot, in Haleakalā National Park, has been nicknamed the "quietest place on Earth."

Getting there is no small feat--the ascent involves hiking upward through five different climate zones. But the reward is an experience of natural silence that is increasingly difficult to find.

Conservationists, park scientists, and communities all over the United States are working to conserve their pristine soundscapes while noise pollution from planes, vehicles, and other human sources increases. Today, Regina G Barber talks with producer Margaret Cirino about the history, culture, and sound of the Haleakalā crater, and why it should matter to all of us.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Olivia calling in from Scootrc Point,
0:02.8	At Acadia National Park,
0:04.3	listening to the sound of the Atlantic Ocean,
0:06.6	and you're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:10.4	Hey Shortwaveers, Regina Barber here with Shortwave Producer Margaret Serino.
0:15.0	Hey Margaret!
0:16.0	Hey Gina, excited to be here!
0:18.0	I'm excited you're here with us!
0:20.0	So I hear you have a story for us set in the great outdoors.
0:23.0	Gina, I do.
0:25.0	I want to take you on a little sonic journey into nature.
0:29.0	You're going to want headphones for this one, if you've got them.
0:32.0	Got them on, got them on right now.
0:34.0	We're born listeners,
0:35.0	and I think the more we lean into listening,
0:37.0	the more happier and fulfilled people we end up being.
0:41.0	So that's Matt Michelson, he's a sound designer,
0:43.0	and when we spoke, he'd just gotten back from Ecuador,
0:47.0	where he was recording in the Amazon Rainforest.
0:51.0	So cool, yeah.
0:53.0	There's so much insect activity there,
0:58.0	and all the insects that are vocalizing each have their own little space
	...

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