It’s hard to put the experience of Growler jet noise into words. It’s just that loud. Often heard on the ground at sounds reaching between 70 and 120 decibels, Growler jet noise has a significant impact on hearing health. In this episode, audiologist Marianne Brabanski (she/her) and Associate Professor of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences Dr. Edmund Seto (he/him) explain the technical aspects of our hearing and how loud noises like that from the Growlers can cause permanent damage. Listen to gain a true understanding of the unbelievable noise from the Growlers and its widespread impact on hearing in local residents from children to the elderly.

***Trigger warning: This episode contains a clip of Growler jet noise that may be disturbing to people with PTSD or who are sensitive to loud noises. The clip plays from 16:11:00 to 16:25:00***

Resources:

Learn more about the Growler jets and how to take action at: www.SoundDefenseAlliance.org

Citizens of Ebey’s Reserve (COER)

Glossary Terms:

Decibel (dB) - A unit used to measure the intensity of a sound by comparing it with a given level on a logarithmic scale.

Logarithmic scale - A way of displaying numerical data over a very wide range of values in a compact way—typically the largest numbers in the data are hundreds or even thousands of times larger than the smallest numbers. Such a scale is nonlinear: the numbers 10 and 20, and 60 and 70, are not the same distance apart on a log scale. Rather, the numbers 10 and 100, and 60 and 600 are equally spaced. Thus moving a unit of distance along the scale means the number has been multiplied by 10 (or some other fixed factor).

Dose-response - The relationship between the intensity of an exposure, e.g., to an infectious pathogen, physical stressor, or a toxin, and its effect on living organisms.

Nature sounds recorded in the Olympic National Park (Gordon Hempton, The Sound Tracker, Co-Founder Quiet Parks International)

Hosted by Terra Huey and Caitlin Epstein

Produced by Caitlin Epstein in partnership with the Sound Defense Alliance