Twenty Thousand Hertz

A lovingly crafted podcast that reveals the stories behind the world's most recognizable and interesting sounds.

Design
Arts
Music Commentary
126
You've Got Mail!
The most recognizable 3 words of the early internet age + the birth of a whole new musical instrument.
20 min
127
Speak Easy
How to find your voice.
18 min
128
Hear Here!
The story of how acoustics changed our history, and how we might use it to better our world today.
19 min
129
Stradivarius
The story behind the most valuable violins in the world.
22 min
130
808
The story of the drum machine that (accidentally) changed music forever.
23 min
131
Soundmarks®
How sonic branding shapes a brand.
26 min
132
Deaf Gain
The story of how a revolutionary implant sparked a human rights movement.
22 min
133
Plants that Sing
For plants and the people who love them.
20 min
134
Sonic Illusions
Our hearing can be deceiving.
20 min
135
Mother of Dragons(ounds)
Hear from the sound designer who gave a voice to the dragons, direwolves, white walkers, and more in Game of Thrones.
19 min
136
Sound Escapes
Sound Tracker Gordon Hempton gives us a masterclass on how to listen.
28 min
137
Voyager Golden Record
The most epic album of all time isn’t even on Earth. It’s over 11 billion miles away.
31 min
138
Birdsong
The story of how birdbrains produce the most complex sounds in the natural world.
24 min
139
Phone Tones
The touch tone sounds from our phones might be slowly going extinct.
22 min
140
The Booj
The story of the sounds you always hear in movie trailers, but never noticed... until now.
22 min
141
Dining on Decibels
The story behind how restaurants became so darn loud.
21 min
142
Do Not Disturb
The story of how alarms and alerts came to rule, and endanger, our lives.
24 min
143
Blue! 42!
How headsets revolutionized American football.
23 min
144
Silence
Dallas is locked into an anechoic chamber to experience how our brains process complete silence.
21 min
145
Space Remix
A completely remixed version of our favorite episode, where we explore what other plants sound like.
19 min
146
Boots 'n Cats
The evolution & science of beatboxing.
21 min
147
Being George Clooney
Explore how Hollywood films are adapted for foreign languages.
30 min
148
Xbox Startup Sound
How the designers of the Xbox startup sounds overcame tight parameters to come up with an iconic audio logo.
21 min
149
Theater for the Mind
The stories behind the golden age of sci-fi and horror radio dramas.
29 min
150
The Theremin
The story behind this infamous, spooky-sounding instrument.
25 min