The latest episode of Twenty Thousand Hertz was released today -- August 19th -- and it investigates the link between chronically loud environments and chronic health issues like anxiety, stress, elevated blood pressure, heart rate and more.
Jackhammers, nail guns, garbage trucks, buses, air conditioners, honking cars, music blaring from bars, talking people and screeching subways. The noises heard every single day in cities like New York are inescapable, and on this latest episode of TED podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz host Dallas Taylor is joined by writer Paige Towers, whose noise sensitivity reached a breaking point when she moved to Manhattan.
She tells the story of the three months it took for her to start falling apart - terrible headaches, tensed shoulders, cold sweats, and other classic symptoms of panic that made her days unbearable. While she ultimately connected her anxiety to the constant weight of the city's inescapable noise, discovering a deceptively simple solution, many people - especially those in lower income neighborhoods - are stuck with it. Those dealing with the most noise pollution are the ones that can't leave, and research shows that these areas have higher incidences of strokes, sleep disturbances, cardiovascular disease and depression.
"Think about it: if a fabric is uncomfortable to the touch, it doesn't get made. If a food or drink has a bad taste, we avoid it. We've also done a lot to change how public spaces smell," host Dallas Taylor explains. "So why hasn't this happened yet with noise? Human design can already offer real solutions but awareness is the first step."
Earlier this month, Twenty Thousand Hertz joined the TED family of podcasts, launching a global partnership to amplify the series's award-winning, multi-millions-downloaded stories behind the world's most recognizable and interesting sounds. TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). Popular TED podcasts include The TED Radio Hour, Worklife With Adam Grant and TED Interview.
Twenty Thousand Hertz began as a podcast in 2016 with its first episode exploring the voice of Siri.
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