Does every season have sounds? What are the sounds of Spring? They are bird songs! You can find music to tweet to by the National Trust. Or you can find websites that ask you whether you can hear these sounds and if not, it may mean you need hearing aids. What are the sounds that are the signs of hearing loss? If human conversation is between 60 and 70 decibels, here are sounds that are the signals:
1. Birdsong - decibels not available 2. Pattering rain - 50 decibels 3. Rustling leaves - 20 decibels 4. Spring peepers - decibels not available 5. Buzzing mosquitoes - 40 decibels 6. Noisy squirrels - 20 decibels
What is the decibel range of birds? It turns out it is difficult to decide - some parts of their call are outside the range of human hearing. What is known is that the lyrebird of Australia or the American bittern are the loudest. I would have thought it must be over 135 decibels as that is what the Moluccan Cockatoo has been recorded at. However, they are listed at 101 decibels.
There was a Great Horned Owl calling in the night last week in our vicinity. Did you know that the Great Horned Owl can be heard for over 2 miles?
And if the forest turns out to be too quiet to hear, move to the ocean. The loudest animal on earth is the blue whale and it can generate sound levels of 188 decibels. This can be heard for hundreds of miles underwater. No hearing aid needed there.
I haven't found any loud plants so far. Here's an orchid.
What does it mean to 'think out loud' - we all seem to do it. This definition comes from wiki.c2.com under the heading ThinkingOutLoud.
Thinking out loud is the act of expressing in recoverable and external form new thoughts which you encourage your mind into exploring. Often these lead to new avenues of thought. When you think out loud you detect and explore ideas and concepts which are either unknown, or as yet unexplored. This exercise can be the first step in moving from a mental doldrums into new paths of exploration.
MacMillan's definition is simpler:
to say something as soon as it comes to your mind, without writing to consider if it is sensible or useful, as in 'Take no notice, I'm just thinking out loud'.
The melmagazine.com headline promises an in-depth humorous look at the topic:
The Science of Thinking Out Loud Is verbalizing your problems a signpost for insanity, or a legit way to figure things out? Here's my favourite excerpt:
Statt alludes to an exercise computer programmers regularly employ known as “rubber duck debugging.” “When trying to work through a difficult code,” she says, “they’ll vocally explain the problem they’re having to a rubber duck on their desk. By explaining the code in detail, the programmers often find a way to work through whatever issue they were struggling with in the first place, reiterating the belief that auditory expression is beneficial overall.”
What about giving rubber ducks for Christmas wrapped in the article by Quinn Myers?
