Twenty Thousand Hertz
The stories behind the world’s most iconic and fascinating sounds.
151
You’ve Got Mail: The voice behind AOL
The most recognizable 3 words of the early internet age + the birth of a whole new musical instrument.
20 min
152
From Spinal Tap to The Simpsons: Voice acting w...
How to find your voice.
18 min
153
Hear Here: The messy history of architectural a...
The story of how acoustics changed our history, and how we might use it to better our world today.
19 min
154
What makes Stradivarius violins so special?
The story behind the most valuable violins in the world.
22 min
155
808: The drum machine that changed music forever
The story of the drum machine that (accidentally) changed music forever.
23 min
156
Soundmarks: AT&T, United Airlines, and inventiv...
How sonic branding shapes a brand.
26 min
157
Deaf Gain: The promise and controversy of cochl...
The story of how a revolutionary implant sparked a human rights movement.
22 min
158
Plants That Listen (and some that sing)
For plants and the people who love them.
20 min
159
Sonic Illusions: Can you really trust your ears?
Our hearing can be deceiving.
20 min
160
Mother of Dragons(sounds): Game of Thrones’ bit...
Hear from the sound designer who gave a voice to the dragons, direwolves, white walkers, and more in Game of Thrones.
19 min
161
Sound Escapes: Nature’s untouched soundtrack
Sound Tracker Gordon Hempton gives us a masterclass on how to listen.
28 min
162
The Voyager Golden Record: Humanity’s message t...
The most epic album of all time isn’t even on Earth. It’s over 11 billion miles away.
31 min
163
Bird Translation Guide: Decoding Tweets, Hoots,...
The story of how birdbrains produce the most complex sounds in the natural world.
24 min
164
Phone Tones: The hidden language of phone numbe...
The touch tone sounds from our phones might be slowly going extinct.
22 min
165
The Booj: The secret sound formula behind block...
The story of the sounds you always hear in movie trailers, but never noticed... until now.
22 min
166
Dining on Decibels: Why are restaurants so noisy?
The story behind how restaurants became so darn loud.
21 min
167
Do Not Disturb: The unseen impacts of alarms an...
The story of how alarms and alerts came to rule, and endanger, our lives.
24 min
168
Blue! 42! How helmet radio changed the NFL
How headsets revolutionized American football.
23 min
169
Silence: Dispatches from the quietest place on ...
Dallas is locked into an anechoic chamber to experience how our brains process complete silence.
21 min
170
A sonic journey through the Solar System
A completely remixed version of our favorite episode, where we explore what other plants sound like.
19 min
171
Boots ’n Cats: The scientific secrets of beatbo...
The evolution & science of beatboxing.
21 min
172
Being George Clooney: Dubbing Hollywood celebri...
Explore how Hollywood films are adapted for foreign languages.
30 min
173
The Xbox Startup Sound: Crafting a console classic
How the designers of the Xbox startup sounds overcame tight parameters to come up with an iconic audio logo.
21 min
174
Theater for the Mind: The Golden Age of radio d...
The stories behind the golden age of sci-fi and horror radio dramas.
29 min
175
Theremin: The instrument that defined classic s...
The story behind this infamous, spooky-sounding instrument.
25 min