An eye- (and ear-) opening investigation into how our ever-noisier world affects our health, our well-being, and our planet

Early-morning jackhammering from construction down the block. The dull roar of jets flying overhead. Your office mates’ phone conversations. We are surrounded by noise, but it is a problem many of us shrug off once the immediate annoyance passes. Yet as science journalist Chris Berdik explains in Clamor, noise can have serious health effects, disrupting our sleep, ratcheting up our stress, and destroying our concentration. As he argues, it is one of the most pervasive yet under-acknowledged pollutants in our daily lives―one that we neglect, both individually and systemically, at our peril

Drawing on extensive research and original reporting, Berdik shows how a too-limited understanding of noise has undermined a century of noise-control efforts and obscured the full toll noise takes on us and on the environment. Chronic exposure to noise that falls below decibel-based thresholds―sometimes even below our conscious awareness―is linked to spikes in the risk of heart disease and other serious health ailments that contribute to premature death. Noisy classrooms hinder developing minds and delay cognitive milestones. In forests and in the depths of the ocean, a cacophony of human-made sound disrupts the natural soundscape, threatening animals’ capacity to communicate, hunt, and flee predators.

Yet in the battle against noise, sound does not have to be our enemy. Berdik introduces us to the researchers, rock stars, architects, and many others finding surprising ways to make our world sound not just less bad but better.