Sound Under Water

Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

underwater, sound is fundamental.

I am currently writing a book on sound under water: how animals make it, how they perceive it, and the impact of human-made noise. It will be published by Crown.

The book is driven by the emerging science of just how many animals under water, from larvae to lobsters to sea lions, rely on—and are impacted by—sound. (I joke sometimes that an alternate title might be, “Beyond Whales”). I became fascinated by underwater acoustics while covering some of this science for Hakai Magazine. Of course, it makes perfect sense that aquatic sound is so fundamental: it travels four times faster under water than in air, and in the right conditions can be detected from dozens to thousands of kilometers across the sea from its source. (Yes, you read that right). Light is limited in deep or murky water, as are smell, touch, taste, and most other senses. Yet sound conveys so much information about food, threats, friends, and enemies, that even animals that don’t speak, or have any part we’d recognize as an ear, still find ways to listen in. This is also why the muddling, masking, or deafening din of ships, pile drivers, motorboats, sonar, air guns, and the like is so concerning.

Stay tuned….