The sense of hearing is special. I feel that I am learning more about this now that I moved out of the big city and have a quiet enough place to hear nature. However, we are not so much in the country that I do not hear the effects of people. Car engines grind to help the vehicles make it up the hill from the valley, and since my yard spills over the hillside into the valley, I hear the effects from three different inclines.

I have also never been baffled or surprised by sounds so often as I have in the recent few years. There is the interaction between nature and man made noises. After the train whistles, the coyotes howl. I learned yesterday that the one obnoxious bird call we hear every night is actually tree frogs. Did you know sound rebounds? I understood that it can rebound off walls and solid objects. In an open floor plan house sound can seem to come from one direction when it is actually being made in the opposite direction as the sound bounces off the wall in front of you. This is actually true of a line of trees full of leaves. We can go look for the source of a sound out back, but then open the front door and see that the work being done is in that direction.

Sounds have a special affect on us. The sound of ocean waves coming up to the beach is so relaxing that we put it on sound machines to help us sleep. The sound of a breeze blowing through the leaves of trees is a comforting background noise. Then there are those sounds that make us giggle, usually sounds that come from our bodies or from someone around us, especially in unexpected moments. Moments such as a quiet gymnasium when a gymnast is performing a routine on the rings, swings himself bending in half with his feet over his head, and …….. yes, you guessed it, a noise escapes. Even the normally stern-faced judges could be seen battling the smiles and holding in the giggles while trying to score the next tricks in the routine. The reason they use sound tracks for movies is to spark these quick emotions in us, either fear, surprise, compassion, courage, or laughter.

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