Abstract
Noise can be two very different things: for a scientist, noise is extraneous acoustic or electromagnetic energy, but for most of us ‘noise’ is any sound that is unwanted by the person exposed to it. ‘Sounds out of place’ considers the main sources of noise pollution, noise-induced hearing loss, and what can be done to eliminate or reduce noise: active noise cancellation, zone separation, and tackling reverberation in public spaces. Although our hearing systems are important, their performance is not usually a matter of life and death. This is not the case for some marine creatures, such as whales and dolphins, which can be devastated by the effects of noise underwater.
