Hearing is the first sense we develop--a primary warning instinct hardwired into our brains. And yet, in an increasingly noisy and distracted world, most people pay very little attention to sound. In school, we teach reading and writing, but not listening. Conscious listening is rare, and, with over half the world's population now living in cities, billions of people never experience the rich and health-enhancing sounds of the natural world. Every day, the sounds around us affect our experience and fundamentally alter our quality of life, for better or worse.

In four sections--geophony, the sounds of the planet; biophony, the "great animal orchestra"; anthropophony, the sounds of humanity; and silence, a sound in its own right--this book will help readers rediscover the wonder of sound and understand how powerfully it affects us, whether we're paying attention or not. It will also offer readers a manual for taking back responsibility for the sounds we consume and the sounds we make, so we can enhance our own happiness.