S2E1: Noisy Nightingales

In this season Hannah Hunter joins Claudia as the co-host of The Animal Highlight, teaching us all about “Animals and Sound.” This season was extracted from Season 4 of The Animal Turn Podcast. In this this episode we talk about nightingales, who have been described as ‘illegally loud.’ 

Credits:

• Claudia Hirtenfelder, producer and host 
• Hannah Hunter, co-host
• Christiaan Mentz, sound editor and producer 
• Rebecca Shen, content producer and designer (logo and episode artwork)
• Gordon Clarke, bed music composer
• Learn more about the team here. 

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• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/TheAnimalTurn 
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Sponsor:

• Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethics sponsored the season of The Animal Turn Podcast where these highlights were originally aired. Originally Aired/Recorded: 7 October 2021.

A.P.P.L.E
Animals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.

The Sonic Arts of Place Laboratory
The SAP Lab provides workspace and equipment for students engaged in sound related activities.

Sonic Arts Studio
The Queen’s Sonic Arts Studio (formerly Electroacoustic Music Studio) was founded in 1970.

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Transcript

00:00 - Introduction 

• Welcome to Season 2 of The Animal Highlight. 
• This first season is focused on “Animals and Sound” and was extracted from Season 4 of The Animal Turn Podcast.  
• This season I am joined with a co-host, Hannah Hunter. A PhD Candidate in Geography at Queen’s University and a member of the Sonic Arts of Place Laboratory.
• This episode focuses on nightingales.  

01:16 – A bit about Hannah 

• Broadly interested in historical bird sound recordings, especially between 1910-1950. 
• Especially interested in birds that are now extinct and how we go to historical resources to hear them. 
• A big moment for the Animal Turn. 

03:00 – Loud Urban Nightingale 

• In the interview with Bryan Pijanowski discussed how urban animals change their sound in relation to urban noise. 
• A long time ago there was an article in the New Scientist which proclaimed that urban nightingale songs are “illegally loud.” This came from research that found the songs of nightingales in Berlin can be as loud as 95 decibels. That is about as loud as if you stood about one meter away from a chainsaw. This is 8 decibels louder than what European workers are allowed to be exposed to without ear protection. 
• As cities have gotten louder and louder urban nightingales have had to change the pitch and frequency of their calls, especially their alarm calls. 
• This is known as the cocktail effect. 
• Urban spaces are often filled with low frequency sounds. Think about the hum of a car engine.
• Not only do they sing at a different pitch or frequency but also at a different time of day. 

05:40 – Acoustic Niche Hypothesis

• The acoustic niche hypothesis premises that there is a limited amount of acoustic space, and different animals have to find and exploit different acoustic spaces. 
• Animals are resilient and adaptive – they can reconfigure their behaviour to survive in the changing acoustic landscape.
• But not everyone can adapt because humans are using up so much of that acoustic space. 
• Zebra finches can experience rapid aging and shorter life spans because of noise pollution (Max Plank research)
• Reduction in traffic noise can lead to a dramatic shift in song frequency in white crowned sparrows in San Francisco 
• Sustained periods of urban quiet would be beneficial for bird communication and diversity. They can communicate in more efficient and successful ways when noise is reduced. Bird song is adaptive and responsive 

08:30 – Discussion 

• Nightingales have one of the biggest repertoires of bird songs. They can make over 1000 different sounds. 
• In the animals and urban season there was discussion about how animals can be thought of as spatially transgressive but with the nightingale we see how animals can also be sonically transgressive. 
• Nightingales have what we consider to be nice songs, so they are less problematized than other species like sea gulls. 

10:20 – Credits 

• Thank you to Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethics for sponsoring The Animal Turn Podcast.
• Thank you also to the Sonic Arts Studio and the Sonic Arts of Place Laboratory who were sponsors for the fourth season of The Animal Turn podcast that was focused on “Animals and Sound” where these animal highlights were extracted from. 
• A big thank you to Hannah Hunter for co-hosting this season of The Animal Highlight
• This episode was produced and hosted by Claudia Hirtenfelder and edited by Christiaan Mentz. 
• The logo and episode artwork were created by Rebecca Shen. 
• Show notes compiled by Claudia Hirtenfelder