The lost sounds of nature: The growing scarcity of natural sounds in the United States

Abstract

Abstract The history of the United States has been closely related to its natural environment. Nature has provided instrumental resources for the nation’s growth and space for its recreation. The ‘great outdoors’ of the United States has offered generations of Americans access to visually spectacular landscapes, capturing the imagination of tourists, explorers, artists and writers. The visual experience of such natural wonders has been the subject of scholarly discussion, but peoples’ experience of the correlating natural soundscapes has gone largely unexamined. Natural sounds are a resource that has been historically overlooked, but a growing body of historical and scientific evidence has demonstrated its importance as a national resource. As with other natural resources in the United States, natural sounds, once abundant, have become increasingly scarce due to the pervasiveness of human activity. The abundance and scarcity of natural resources in the United States has been a frequently visited topic of discussion; however, the growing scarcity of natural sounds has been largely absent from this debate. This article places the opportunity to listen to natural sounds unimpeded by human-made noise at the centre of the debate.