The World According to Sound

Series produced by The World According to Sound

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A 90-second radio show that brings you different sounds and the stories behind them.

A tiny radio show that tells stories with sounds instead of, well, stories. Every ninety-second episode is about a different sound. We could hear Earth Whistlers, mudpots, or bridges; a dying language, a forgotten language, or a way to communicate without words; what it's like to have auditory hallucinations, hearing loss, or tinnitus; famous music made by accident, by a murderer, or by a computer; or the call of the world's loneliest whale. Episodes have roughly 30 seconds of narration and 60 seconds of sound. We release a new episode every week.


61 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
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Achtung! I guess if I had to secretly communicate with foreign agents, I'd just say a bunch of random numbers too.

Bought by PRX Remix, KALW, and KALW


  • Added: Feb 24, 2017
  • Length: 01:45
  • Purchases: 3
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33 percent of America's electricity comes from coal. You're probably using energy generated from that black rock right now. It's extracted from the...

Bought by PRX Remix, KVNF, KALW, and KALW


  • Added: Feb 24, 2017
  • Length: 02:03
  • Purchases: 4
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Not all of America takes kindly to Trump's ban of immigrants.

Bought by KALW


  • Added: Feb 24, 2017
  • Length: 01:38
  • Purchases: 1
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Making plum wine in your kitchen is unexpectedly melodious.

Bought by KVNF, KALW, and KALW


  • Added: Feb 24, 2017
  • Length: 01:38
  • Purchases: 3
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The confederate war cry resembled "a foxhunt yip mixed up with sort of a banshee squall."

Bought by PRX Remix, KALW, and KALW


  • Added: Feb 24, 2017
  • Length: 01:38
  • Purchases: 3
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The mellifluous tones of a Japanese electronics store.

Bought by KALW and KALW


  • Added: Feb 24, 2017
  • Length: 01:36
  • Purchases: 2
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The sound of Donald Trump getting elected in San Francisco.

Bought by KALW


  • Added: Feb 24, 2017
  • Length: 01:30
  • Purchases: 1
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This song shows that Western music is almost a 1,000 years older than we used to believe.

Bought by KALW, New Hampshire Public Radio, KALW, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Oct 11, 2016
  • Length: 01:35
  • Purchases: 4
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About a hundred years ago, Berlin sounded like this.

Bought by KALW, KALW, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Oct 11, 2016
  • Length: 01:35
  • Purchases: 3
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The Pacific Ocean's uncanny undulations.

Bought by KVNF, KALW, KVNF, KALW, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Oct 11, 2016
  • Length: 01:35
  • Purchases: 5
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Sometimes you need to make due with the greenery at hand.

Bought by KALW, KALW, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Oct 11, 2016
  • Length: 01:33
  • Purchases: 3
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Language as anti-content.

Bought by KALW, KALW, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Oct 11, 2016
  • Length: 01:37
  • Purchases: 3
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The first long episode of The World According to Sound. Whoa. It's a little bit new, a little bit best-of.

  • Added: Jul 18, 2016
  • Length: 18:06
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It could be a grim future for music.

Bought by KALW, KALW, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jul 18, 2016
  • Length: 01:22
  • Purchases: 3
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This auditory illusion is almost enough to make you go mad.

Bought by KALW, KALW, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jul 18, 2016
  • Length: 01:39
  • Purchases: 3
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Mariah Carey made this famous, but its been a part of pop for a long time.

Bought by KALW, New Hampshire Public Radio, KALW, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jul 18, 2016
  • Length: 01:29
  • Purchases: 4
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This acoustic instrument can kick the ass of any electric one.

Bought by KALW, KALW, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jul 18, 2016
  • Length: 01:33
  • Purchases: 3
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A cat organ fit for a king. Or, at least a prince.

Bought by KVNF, KALW, KALW, KUOW, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 16, 2016
  • Length: 01:28
  • Purchases: 5
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Gotta do a little spelunking to play these pipes.

Bought by KVNF, KALW, KVNF, KALW, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 16, 2016
  • Length: 01:36
  • Purchases: 5
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A classic, but not classy way to keep the poor away from your place of business.

Bought by KALW, KALW, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 16, 2016
  • Length: 01:30
  • Purchases: 3