Deep Blue Noise

The oceans are getting noisier, enough to cause deafness among dolphins.

Overground, we all know how city cacophony can saw our senses apart. What we’re just learning is how noisy the oceans are getting, enough to cause deafness among dolphins. Scientists at the University of Hawaii and the University of California have found that carbon emissions cause water acidity to rise which allows low-frequency sounds to travel further. Frightened by this increasing deep blue noise, dolphins and whales are fleeing, losing habitat, and the most desperate among them are getting stranded on beaches and dying. Projections by the study’s lead author show sound absorption for low-frequency noise could fall by 60 per cent by 2100 in high latitude, deep oceans.  Who’d have thought car engines could turn dolphins deaf?

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