The death and rebirth of the Windows startup sound.

Start me up.

The sound that haunts Hollywood.

Stand clear of the closing doors, please.

Who writes the hits for the pop stars?

How a soft-spoken, poofy-haired painter changed the world, one gentle word at a time.

How a group of scrappy radio pirates changed the course of music history.

What’s in a name?

The secrets of Simlish, the gibberish language of The Sims.

Uncovering the secrets of the sonic world.

The hosts of Underunderstood go head to head in our annual Mystery Sound game.

How HBO reconciled its analog past with its digital future.

How HBO crafted two of the most iconic pieces of sonic branding in history.

If you live with a snorer, it can be tricky to roll out of bed after a night of little sleep.

How do you voice over 200 monsters?

The ins and outs of gaming without sight.

Keep your ears on the ball.

Hearing is believing.

Self-control through sound control.

What happens when dryers and dishwashers get the sound design treatment?

Cracking the case of a sonic mystery.

Tuning in to spy radio.

The new voices of the Looney Tunes.

The secret tools of Foley Artists.

The secrets behind the subtle art of Foley.

A story within a story about pioneering women in audio.

Why are some device sounds pleasing, while others stress us out?

From Pachelbel's Canon, to the Ice Cream Changes, to the Four Chords, we examine the most-used chord changes in pop music.

How the Shure SM7 became one of the most game-changing vocal microphones of all time.

Crafting the music and sounds of Minecraft.

The history and future of the 20th Century Fox fanfare.

What happens when you get hit with a “sound cannon?”

Ba da ba ba ba.

Listen up! It’s time to go back to basics on the physics of sound.

What’s it like to see sounds and taste names?

How an internet choir connects singers around the world at a time when they can't sing together.

Legendary music archivist Alan Lomax made it his life's work to preserve and promote the sounds of local culture.

From Klingon to Elvish, what makes a good constructed language?

The mind-boggling technology behind space communication.

What can we expect the future to sound like, and how can we build a sonic utopia?

The way we each experience sound depends on so many unique factors, from tiny receptors in our ears to the way we were taught to communicate.

How a four-note melody from the 13th century became a movie soundtrack superstar.

What's it like when every sound you hear—from the whir of the coffee grinder to the beep of the microwave—all sound like musical notes?

The sound design wizardry behind the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park, and how these sounds compare to what dinos REALLY sounded like.

The stunning rise and fall of Napster, and how it transformed the music industry in a few short years.

A diagnosis of vocal nodes is every singer's worst nightmare. But when nodes develop, is all hope truly lost?

Is your voice your own? Maybe not anymore.

The link between chronic noise and chronic anxiety may be closer than we realize.

The never-before-told story behind the iconic Netflix sound.

The McElroy brothers, hosts of My Brother, My Brother and Me, compete in a heated and hilarious game of mystery sounds.

How the sound design of Hamilton draws the audience into the story.

Theft or inspiration? Part two of a deep dive into the complicated world of copyright, sampling and the ability to own a song.

Theft or inspiration? Part one of a deep dive into the complicated world of Copyright.

The history and science behind our favorite fart sound-maker, the whoopee cushion.

The story behind the sound design of Star Wars: How legendary Sound Designer Ben Burtt helped transport audiences to a galaxy far, far away.

The story of Mel Blanc, Part 2. The accident, recovery, and passing of the torch.

The early life and career of Mel Blanc.

The stories behind the world's most recognizable and interesting smells.

The story of a town that stayed quiet to preserve an instrument they love.

Warning: Listening to this episode might entice you to worship the devil.

A nostalgic history of toy sounds.

We know music can affect our moods, but its influence over us goes even deeper, and has the power to heal, harm, and manipulate us.

The story behind one of the most controversial, and influential, pieces of music of the 20th Century.

A theme song about nothing: how it was created, what makes it so unique, and how it became one of the most iconic theme songs in TV history.

Take your ears on a mini vacation as we celebrate the sonic wonders of the world.

How we shape language to our needs, and how it shapes us in return.

A song of fuel and fire - what’s happening inside your car engine?

The history and future of one of the biggest viral sensations ever.

The story of the internet choir connecting people from around the world to share the joy of singing.

The story behind one of the most recognizable TV show themes ever.

We take a deep dive into the Loudness War, and look for signs of hope in the modern age.

A look at the mystical art of mastering from its analog beginnings to the digital world of today.

The most recognizable 3 words of the early internet age + the birth of a whole new musical instrument.

How to find your voice.

The story of how acoustics changed our history, and how we might use it to better our world today.

The story behind the most valuable violins in the world.

The story of the drum machine that (accidentally) changed music forever.

How sonic branding shapes a brand.

The story of how a revolutionary implant sparked a human rights movement.

For plants and the people who love them.

Our hearing can be deceiving.

Hear from the sound designer who gave a voice to the dragons, direwolves, white walkers, and more in Game of Thrones.

Sound Tracker Gordon Hempton gives us a masterclass on how to listen.

The most epic album of all time isn’t even on Earth. It’s over 11 billion miles away.

The story of how birdbrains produce the most complex sounds in the natural world.

The touch tone sounds from our phones might be slowly going extinct.

The story of the sounds you always hear in movie trailers, but never noticed... until now.

The story behind how restaurants became so darn loud.

The story of how alarms and alerts came to rule, and endanger, our lives.

How headsets revolutionized American football.

Dallas is locked into an anechoic chamber to experience how our brains process complete silence.

A completely remixed version of our favorite episode, where we explore what other plants sound like.

The evolution & science of beatboxing.

Explore how Hollywood films are adapted for foreign languages.

How the designers of the Xbox startup sounds overcame tight parameters to come up with an iconic audio logo.

The stories behind the golden age of sci-fi and horror radio dramas.

The story behind this infamous, spooky-sounding instrument.

How were old cartoon sounds made, and how did they become so iconic?

A behind the scenes look at the inspiration and creation of Twenty Thousand Hertz.

What is the story behind these unforgettable earworms?