From DeFacto Sound, you're listening to 20,000 Hertz.

The stories behind the world's most recognizable and interesting sounds.

I'm Dallas Taylor.

This is the story of noise pollution, how it affects your health, and so much more.

Imagine you're hiking through Yellowstone National Park.

You've spent the better part of a day traversing steep inclines, boulders, and streams.

You find a remote location just off of a major trail and decide to rest.

As you begin to relax, you become overwhelmed by the majestic soundscape of this unadulterated wilderness.

You close your eyes, listening to the beauty of the birdsong overhead,

the steady babble of a nearby stream,

the sound of the wind blowing softly through the trees. Just as you've settled into a deep relaxation,

... There's no getting around it.

There are certain sounds that when we hear them, we simply don't like it.

But does this qualify them as noise pollution?

What is noise?

To get a better idea, I spoke with Les Blomberg, the executive director of the noise pollution clearinghouse.

The most common definition out there is noise is unwanted sound.

And it's really the most unsatisfactory definition at the same time.

It really doesn't describe what noise is.

It paints noise only in terms of whether it's wanted or not.

It makes it totally subjective.

The way I like to define noise is noise is a sound that harms the well-being of people or animals or interferes with activities.

...