Our world is much louder than our primitive ears can handle, causing us to lose the highest frequencies in our hearing as we age. It is natural for these higher frequencies to diminish with age, but one must be careful to avoid permanent hearing damage. Hearing protection is crucial, similar to using sunscreen for our skin to prevent damage that is different and preventable.
Some sounds bring happy memories flooding back. Other sounds put us on edge; drive us to distraction; or cause us considerable distress. Sound matters... so why don't we pay more attention to our sonic environment?
In a mash-up with our friends at the podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz, Dr. Laurie Santos joins Dallas Taylor to create a Handbook for Sonic Happiness explaining how sound can harm our wellbeing or be a route to greater happiness.
Featuring auditory psychologist David Poeppel, psychology researcher Giulia Poerio, clinical psychologist Ali Mattu, sound scholar Mac Hagood and acoustician Trevor Cox.
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