Sound Affects

How Sound Shapes Our Lives, Our Wellbeing and Our Planet

By: Julian Treasure

Narrated by: Julian Treasure

A "fascinating" narrative that takes readers on an epic journey spanning disciplines, continents, and centuries that spotlights sound's incredible impact on our bodies, feelings, thinking, and behavior (Susan Cain, bestselling author of Quiet).

Hearing is the first sense we develop—a primary warning instinct hardwired into our brains. And yet, in an increasingly noisy and distracted world, most people pay very little attention to sound. In school, we teach reading and writing, but not listening. Conscious listening is rare, and, with over half the world's population now living in cities, billions of people never experience the rich and health‑enhancing sounds of the natural world. Every day, the sounds around us affect our experience and fundamentally alter our quality of life, for better or worse.

In four sections—geophony, the sounds of the planet; biophony, the "great animal orchestra"; anthropophony, the sounds of humanity; and silence, a sound in its own right—this book will help readers rediscover the wonder of sound and understand how powerfully it affects us, whether we're paying attention or not. It will also offer readers a manual for taking back responsibility for the sounds we consume and the sounds we make, so we can enhance our own happiness.

Critic reviews

"A fascinating insight into the power of sound."—Susan Cain, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Bittersweet and Quiet

"Transformative and a fascinating read; this book will open your ears to the world of sound and change your life."—Steven Bartlett, best-selling author of The Diary of a CEO

“The best manifesto I can gift to those who don’t know why I keep saying sound is so important.”
—Derek Sivers, author of How to Live, Hell Yeah or No, Your Music and People, Anything You Want and Useful Not True

"Sound is one of our most powerful and consequential senses. Yet we abuse it all the time. Sounds Affects is a necessary antidote to a world of blasting headsets, noisy workplaces, deafening environments and disintegrating listening abilities. Read it with your noise-cancelling headphones on, then take them off and apply what you will have learned: you will experience the world anew."
—Bruno Giussani, former TED Global Curator

“Julian Treasure doesn’t just explore sound—he makes you hear the world differently. Sound Affects will open your ears, sharpen your mind, and transform the way you experience life.”

—Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics

Accurate and thoroughly enjoyable

As a professional musician and meditation practitioner, I found this book added to the science and psychology of sound.

Beautifully narrated exploration of sound

I've also reviewed the print version, but I wanted to make a point to review the performance here. This is one of the finest author narrations I've listened to. There is nothing quite like an author reading their own work when they have the skill to do it. Treasure is well known for his TED talks, and is passionate about speaking and listening. The content is excellent, of course, but the narration is stellar. His passion for the topics in the book are communicated in a way that even the finest 3rd party narrator would have difficulty replicating.