The Sound Book : The Science of the Sonic Wonders of the World

**A tour of the world’s most amazing acoustic phenomena that reveals how sound works in everyday life.** Trevor Cox is on a hunt for the sonic wonders of the world. A renowned expert who engineers classrooms and concert halls, Cox has made a career of eradicating bizarre and unwanted sounds. But after an epiphany in the London sewers, Cox now revels in exotic noises—creaking glaciers, whispering galleries, stalactite organs, musical roads, humming dunes, seals that sound like alien angels, and a Mayan pyramid that chirps like a bird. With forays into archaeology, neuroscience, biology, and design, Cox explains how sound is made and altered by the environment, how our body reacts to peculiar noises, and how these mysterious wonders illuminate sound’s surprising dynamics in everyday settings—from your bedroom to the opera house. __The Sound Book__ encourages us to become better listeners in a world dominated by the visual and to open our ears to the glorious cacophony all around us. 35 illustrations "A lucid and passionate case for a more mindful way of listening. . . . Anyone who has ever clapped, hollered or yodeled at an echo will delight in [Cox's] zestful curiosity."— New York Times Trevor Cox is on a hunt for the sonic wonders of the world. A renowned expert who engineers classrooms and concert halls, Cox has made a career of eradicating bizarre and unwanted sounds. But after an epiphany in the London sewers, Cox now revels in exotic noises—creaking glaciers, whispering galleries, stalactite organs, musical roads, humming dunes, seals that sound like alien angels, and a Mayan pyramid that chirps like a bird. With forays into archaeology, neuroscience, biology, and design, Cox explains how sound is made and altered by the environment, how our body reacts to peculiar noises, and how these mysterious wonders illuminate sound's surprising dynamics in everyday settings—from your bedroom to the opera house. The Sound Book encourages us to... Trevor Cox is on a hunt for the sonic wonders of the world. A renowned expert who engineers classrooms and concert halls, Cox has made a career of eradicating bizarre and unwanted sounds. But after an epiphany in the London sewers, Cox now revels in exotic noises creaking glaciers, whispering galleries, stalactite organs, musical roads, humming dunes, seals that sound like alien angels, and a Mayan pyramid that chirps like a bird. With forays into archaeology, neuroscience, biology, and design, Cox explains how sound is made and altered by the environment, how our body reacts to peculiar noises, and how these mysterious wonders illuminate sound s surprising dynamics in everyday settings from your bedroom to the opera house. The Sound Book encourages us to become better listeners in a world dominated by the visual and to open our ears to the glorious cacophony all around us "A lucid and passionate case for a more mindful way of listening to and engaging with musical, natural, and manmade sounds." New York Times In this tour of the worlds most unexpected sounds, Trevor Coxthe David Attenborough of the acoustic realm ( Observer )discovers the worlds longest echo in a hidden oil cavern in Scotland, unlocks the secret of singing sand dunes in California, and alerts us to the aural gems that exist everywhere in between. Using the worlds most amazing acoustic phenomena to reveal how sound works in everyday life, The Sound Book inspires us to become better listeners in a world dominated by the visual and to open our ears to the glorious cacophony all around us. 35 illustrations Ranging across an array of realms including literature, classical music, history, archaeology, psychology, neuroscience, geology, physics, biology and ecology, this book tours the world's most amazing acoustic phenomena and the sometimes even stranger people behind them - and pleas for a deeper appreciation and respect for our shared sonic landscapes "With forays into archaeology, neuroscience, biology, and design, Cox explains how sound is made and altered by the environment, how our body reacts to peculiar noises, and how these mysterious wonders illuminate sound's surprising dynamics in everyday settings, from your bedroom to the opera house"--Amazon.com As an acoustic engineer, the author has spent his career eradicating unwanted noises - echoes in concert halls, clamour in classrooms. Until the day he heard something so astonishing that he had an epiphany. This title tells the story of his investigation into the mysteries of these Sonic Wonders of the World. A professor of acoustic engineering provides a tour of the world's most amazing sound phenomena, including creaking glaciers, whispering galleries, stalactite organs, musical roads, humming dunes, seals that sound like alien angels, and a Mayan pyramid that chirps like a bird