Why Silence is Going Extinct 

I live in Tasmania, one of the Earth's last great wildernesses. The silence where we live was scary at first, now we hate leaving it.

I remember telling a friend once, that sound and light pollution are probably the two of largest stressors in everyone's lives that nobody seems to talk about. Light pollution in particular would be so easy to deal with honestly.

Quietness is so relaxing, but some people get uncomfortable by silence. Great documentary in telling a story about the impact of sounds.

I've always wanted to have a sound proof room in my house just for the fun of it but now you've encouraged me to do it for my health and sanity

I recently moved from a very rural area with almost no noise, to Philadelphia. I am having trouble getting used to it and know I never will. Others say they are used to it and yet they are so stressed. They aren't used to it, they are just blind to it.

I am extremely sensitive to sound and stress. Even a balloon pop makes my ears ring so this is very important to me. The reality is saddening :(. No wonder there are so many RU-vid videos of audios of calming sounds as people don't really have access to them irl anymore.

This video resonates. When I’m desperate for silence I find it extremely challenging to find a quiet place. It’s relieving to hear that there are people who work so hard to protect silence. Gratitude 😊

I used to go caving before caves started closing down to slow the spread of white nose syndrome in bats. The thing I miss the most about it is the times I could get everyone to sit still and turn off their lights. Those brief moments of quiet darkness are so rare. It's been years, now, since I've been able to experience that. I always wished they could last longer, but other people find darkness and silence extremely uncomfortable for some reason. Lately I've been feeling extremely stressed by all the noise around me. I have to sleep with a mask on to block all the light around me and listen to white noise ASMR to drown out fan noises, air conditioners, and traffic noises. I'm not even in a city. I'm in semi-rural Arkansas. The few times I've visited cities, I've found sleep nearly impossible. How are people so disconnected from themselves that they don't recognize how impactful sound is on them? During the day, I do all I can to minimize my volume. I mow my grass with an unmotorized reel mower and trim tall weeds with a scythe. I split firewood with an axe instead of a hydraulic splitter. I have a treadle powered grinding wheel for sharpening tools instead of a motorized grinder when they need a lot of work. And I work from home when I can to avoid driving. Sometimes I can't avoid making noise when driving to work or cutting a tree to length. I have been experimenting with an old crosscut saw to potentially replace my chainsaw and toying with the idea of coppicing for firewood instead of relying on the big trees around me that are dying to beetles.

Here in Norway you can find silence many places. Its obviously more difficult in the biggest cities, but there is a lot of untouched nature here that stays silent. They are the only places where Ive experienced 100% quiet, absolutely no sound. In the winter all the snow and the trees covered in snow supress the noise, and at nighttime it literally cannot get quieter outside and its absolutely magical.

I lived in Washington State for 17 years, and going to the Olympic National Park was where I always went to get away from people/society. He is correct; you have to drive all the way around the park, there are very few roads that go a LITTLE into the interior, but most, NOPE, you have to go by foot. It's incredible to listen to a waterfall alone in the woods. SCARY, but there is a fantastic feeling to have the silence of artificial noise and hear nature. Your stress and anxiety literally disappear in minutes.

I remember once when I went on a field trip to a very remote area. The quietness is unforgettable. No car horns, no drones that you just tune out, no noises of cars on roads, just complete silence. It’s impossible to imagine until you’re actually there, and I recommend everyone to go somewhere that’s silent and experience it at least once, because it’s a good experience.

I used to live in a village in Poland. Sometimes i heard tractors, dogs barking, cows, hens of some other sorts of animal, but I still loved and love to this day when i go back to the fields and I hear NOTHING, but wind, flies, and wheat. It's comforting. BTW I was very much positively suprised by your shots man! The marker scene was amazing!

I live in Auckland, NZ and I find it quite easy to just stroll through our native bush with no man made noise. The fact that I can do that is something I have never really thought about/cared to think about. This video shows just how blessed I am to live in this beautiful place.

Many places in remote national parks are still full of silence ... basically the absence of noise. So quiet on one trip to Islands in the Sky - Needles District, I could hear my watch ticking, heart beating, & soda bubbling in my can. It's a different sort of existence but I thouroughly embraced it 🙏 No cell service, no phone, no TV, just my thoughts.

This is the very reason why I visit the Scottish Highlands or Snowdonia each year - to escape and find peace and just be. There are areas in the Scottish Highlands where on a calm day you can soak in the views in absolute silence.

The interview added so much depth to this, and the topic is such an interesting subject that needs to be brought more into the light. Thanks for making it!

Just recently talked about this subject with a buddy of mine while walking through a forest. It's insane how bad it has gotten, and truly a shame that it has :/

I think that's why the only thing that makes winter bearable is the silence. I can just stand outside under the snow and it's almost like it mutes everything. It's strange but I feel like I almost become nothing in silence. It isn't disturbing, but it isn't comforting, it's just sorta like becomign aware and being at peace.

I got chronic tinnitus when i was 17. My mind has learned to drown it out since then but when i first got it, the thing i complained the most about, the thing i cried over, wasn't that it hurt, but that i wanted silence back. I live in a small to medium sized city, so both sound and noise pollution are relatively high. True silence likely isn't a thing i've expirienced since the last time i was in a more rural town's wooded area. And now with tinnitus....i likely never will again. All the sounds of life drown it out but if i truly try to listen, it's still there. Silence is something people don't appreciate until it's taken away from them, i know i didn't. I'm glad to see that there are people who care about it and (hopefully) don't have tinnitus. Silence is a thing that needs protecting so that those who can still enjoy it...can.

Great story. About 30 years ago I was backpacking on Bogachiel Peak in Olympic NP and we ran into a solo hiker who was there for this very reason. He had tinnitus and the park was the quietest place he could find. Thanks for the video, your work is extraordinary!

Fantastic video, Aiden! I could easily have watched you cover this topic for an hour or more. As a resident of the metro Atlanta area; I can confirm that human made noise pollution is a major problem and a huge negative for living in the Eastern United States. Great work, as always. Your videos are among the small handful of content creators that I watch as soon as I see them pop up!

As a student who can’t drive, I sometimes find myself craving silence but having access to none. I want to check out those articles so thank you for linking them, some of it seems difficult to back up some of the claims but it sounds very interesting

Damn, every aspect of these video is just stunning and i mean that. The camera shots, the script, the idea how to express what you intend to say with these videos, interviews i just could keep going. Its nice to see that some people on this platform still do things for the sake of doing it, not only for money or attention. Idk but this thought makes me genuinely happy.

Dude I love every single one of your videos. The way your voice sounds when you tell something is amazing. Your shots, compositing, color grading, and sound design is so smooth, clean and beautiful. It just makes me wanna dive into your video. Such an inspiration, would love to see more videos like this in the future.

Not too long ago, I went on a short trip to a place in my country where we were far enough from any settlement to not hear anything. It was both beautiful and weird, it was so quiet it felt exactly like putting your head underwater.

I experienced something similar to this when I went to Kapadokia in turkey, it felt almost alien the landscape, but the silence was peaceful. I went ATVing with my friend and once we got far enough, we cut the engines and just walked around, it was almost completely quite, and snow had just started to fall. It was so calming.

I have the same feeling towards the Himalayas but was never able to pin point exactly why. This explains a lot. I can see the amount of work you put into this video, the sound editing, the shots, the script. Great work!

I rarely comment but I've watched all your videos and just wanted to say how impressed I am on how you always manage to level things up and find new ways to improve your videos. Beautifully done but also really informative, thanks! 🙏🏻

Thank you so much for this video. It's so amazing how something so "simple" as silence is so important and yet, we just take it for granted. Love your all your videos :)

I live with someone who can’t go an hour without listening to something on their phone loud, so everyone else can enjoy it too. For someone who loves silence and solitude it’s quite unpleasant.

Two of my favorite things about spelunking are practicing cave silence, and cave darkness. If you appreciate the silence of the forest, you'll be shocked at how much quieter nature can become below the surface. It's difficult to describe the sensation of your eyes searching for any sliver of light and finding none, it's quite pleasant.

The dense inside forest view is stunningly beautiful

Absolutely beautiful. You give such an immersive experience to your audience, I’ve barely experienced my mind shift to other places. You kept me hooked. You’re a genius to be making such films, there’s not many people doing it. Keep it coming man. Appreciate it.

This is such a beautiful video. I watched it twice today. The effort and love you put into this really gives the viewer the direct feeling of why these silent places are so precious and worth protecting. And just in 10 minutes! I'm in awe and I look forward to watch your other videos. By the way: In German we have a word "Waldeinsamkeit". Translated directly it means "forest-lonelyness". It describes this feeling of being by yourself in the forest, searching for the silence, peace, and for being alone in the woods.

I love getting outside. Hiking and backpacking is one of my favorite pastimes. Getting away from all the problems, the stress, becoming one with nature. I love it

Your colour corrections are absolutely stunning. I feel so many unintelligible emotions of solitude and loneliness yet it's actually comforting. Such a mesmerising video,

Alright, this is one of the most brilliantly made videos I have ever seen. I was engaged till the end and when you said you will return again to the forest, I was like wait it's over? And I checked the timeline. 10 mins passed and I was fully immersed in the world you crafted, sailing along your serene thought train. Might not be that significant but you have one more subscriber now.

Incredible job on this video. I have always unconsciously desired escaping to true silence, but i think you rightly point out that what i really wanted was freedom from man made noise. Thank you for bringing this to our attention

I live in Southern Germany Baden-Würrtemberg to be exact I've been to the Black Forrest on basically a monthly basis there is nothing better than getting truly lost and sitting by a creek or a river and just reflecting I think that everyone should have the option to enjoy the silence of nature like the people here.

The slow shutter speed choice was genius. Well done as always Aidin, great content

I actually appreciate how some shots are filmed with a low shutterspeed, it makes it feel more realistic and makes me appreciate the scenery through your camera more. 3:54 Looks like you were only there in a moment for the forest by the way Aidin is blurry

Really well done! One of my favorite things about living and exploring rural New Mexico is the quiet away from city noise. Well, that and the dark skies we get at night too.

I took a friend who had lived in London and Birmingham his entire life to Ennerdale Water in Cumbria on a very cloudy, close day and the thing that stood out most for him was the total silence. Having sat at the top of plenty of fells over the years taking photos, the good feeling that comes from being surrounded by silence is among the best. Great topic and video

Such a beautiful and inspiring documentary, I'm really glad I found it. I'm 16 and strongly believe that quiet is how the world should be enjoyed. I wish to experience quiet more and more, as that's nature, that's what we've been here to thrive in for millennia. I have always loved the quiet. Being aboriginal, I would experience silence when my uncles would take me out bush to the Grampians, the Victorian Alps etc. Being able to experience that silence, to take in the true beauty of the earth, of nature, changes you. A lot. Every time I experience quiet it changes me. It awakens your soul, let's you see the earth for what it is. The silence should spread. I'm planning on taking my girlfriend to the silence soon for her to experience what I consider true natural beauty. Everyone needs to experience it. Silence is natural, and that is beautiful. Have a good life everyone who read through this ramble. I hope you have or will experience true quiet. We all need it. Stay safe everyone.

This video is amazing. I can't really put into words how peaceful the ambience of this video makes me feel. Being able to do that while also making a valuable argument is brilliant. I didn't even know this was such a big issue, but I know how much silence helps my mental health and stress levels. Thanks man!

Something from my heart, I have been struggling with this from a long time. May be some people are more susceptible of the noise around. My place is at very busy and noisy road and peace for me is like a luxury. your work is always soulful and feels like truly something I can deeply connect with.

The step printing effect is pretty cool. Your stuff always looks super legit and the story telling keeps getting better and better. Keep up the good work!

You've gone above and beyond once again! Absolutely loving this direction you're taking

Dang man. So well done - love that you’re drawing attention to this. Hit me in the feels at the end 🥹

I hate loud engine noises. I live in a national forest but with highways running through... most of the time you can hear loud car engines from the highway all day long. It's so disappointing.

Thanks for showing this video Aidin- the audio is just as phenomenal as the visuals. Noise pollution has been so normal since the Industrial Revolution that moments of true and pure silence where we can feel at bliss and peace seem so rare. Everyone deserves moments of quiet, and it's disappointing that many of us, especially in bustling cities, are deprived of them.

your stuff is seriously incredible dude, you do such an incredible job capturing the natural beauty of the pacific northwest in a way i haven't ever seen before. keep up the good work!

Awesome video Aidin! I have noticed this trend of increased noise overall recently myself. I'm trying to get out to more places that are peaceful and quiet. This past summer I went camping in what might be one of the quietest places in West Virginia... It was incredible, especially at night. There was next to no light pollution too, which is rare for the east coast, and I could see the whole milky way whist sitting in my hammock, listening to the sound of the trees slowly whispering in the wind. God's creation is so beautiful! I hope that I can visit Olympic National Park one day too, to experience that environment firsthand.

The opening is straight out of a zombie apocalypse movie😍🔥🔥🔥

This documentation of places and feelings attached to it ,is so Pure. This is really good.

The moment the new neighbors across the street moved in silence was lost forever. The rainforests of Hawaii can be quiet but mostly at night. One of my favorite and most difficult hikes that I've been doing for over 30 years is so quiet. I hike it at night on the way to the vent. 5 hours of bliss. Once it's light out the tour helicopters invade the skies. Now even the main summit area of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park allows numerous helicopters to fly overhead constantly during eruptions. I like to record audio in the park but it's only quiet at night. No birds like you hear in the morning.

As always an absolute visual and audio masterpiece!

this world is a disaster. we're doomed. and we're suffering for it right now, until we all burn in a few years.

I grew up running around in lots of backwoods behind ours and families houses, where very little sound from the rest of the world got in, or at least that's how it felt. That clip of the olympia forests sounds brought me right back to the kiddish feeling I always get in the woods; thank you for this video, it's making me think of going out next weekend to a hiking spot I know...

Norris Dam state park in East TN can have this level of quiet during the winter when the dam is closed. No boats, not many cars. Bliss. Great video as always!

damn, guess im lucky to live where i do, cause you can pretty much go anywhere in the mountains and have complete and utter silence. not a single sound. especially in the winter when there are no birds or bugs out.

After hearing the first clip; of "silence" I just sat here and cried. I have sound sensitivity syndrome (Misophonia) and as noise pollution is one of my main triggers its so hard to deal with on a day to day basis. Silence is just so...beautiful, I really apreciate this video spreading awareness. ❤❤❤

Crazy how well produced this video is. There are many thought provoking things here. Great job my guy.

I just wanted to thank you for making this video. Everything from the cinematograhpy to the sounds and message is just beautiful

I went to this wine estate in Napa once. It was far up in a mountain. Self sustaining farm and all that. Away from the city. When we got out of the car, I closed the door and the silence was breathtaking. My ears adjusted to try to hear something. Eventually I heard a low buzz. It was the bees around the flowers nearby. I could HEAR the bees. I felt like I’ve been missing out on my own planet all this time.

one of the calmest and relaxing Video i've seen, this is so refreshing since every youtuber now try to be energetic like mr beast style to attract younger audience

I love watching videos like this, that bring issues to light that i had no idea existed. Turns out living on an isolated mountain is beneficial for health, even if you cant get anywhere convinietly.

I grew up on an island called Styrsö outside of Gothenburg Sweden. I remember the nights being so peaceful when almost everyone were sleeping (you could her a select few mopeds sometimes but not often), the light polution is MINIMAL at all times so the night sky was amazing. Ofcourse we had some noises during the day, everything from boats, mopeds, bikes, chainsaws, lawnmowers etc but it was for the most part quiet out there, very peaceful, especially during winters. God bless the places that are still peaceful and quiet from humanity’s urban areas ❤

There should be more spaces in the world dedicated to this.

When I watch your videos, I can escape my thoughts. Even if it's just for a small moment in time, I enjoy it. To develop such a unique style in such an overcrowded space where everything seems like it has already been done is an amazing feat. As always, you inspire me more and more to create my own as well. Thank you

I live in Québec, Canada. There's this park called Fjord du Saguenay close to Quebec City. I once went in Saguenay for few days one winter and I didn't check properly if the park was open to public. It wasn't. I ended up spending the day alone with my snowshoes, the wind blowing in between the trees and within the Fjord, the sound that chunks of ice make when rubbing and hitting one another, and nothing else. To this day, it is one of my best memories. I do hope everyone gets the chance to experience this. Thank you for your video

Absolutly Fantastic video Aidin. I live up here in the PNW and knew none of this. Thank you for the quality - I learn a ton from this channel.

Noise cancelling headphones

space: ☕🗿

I feel like I should've paid for this. This production quality is surprisingly high and covers an interesting topic that's relevant to us.

my old hhouse is extremely quiet at night, it's in a small city so there's,no air traffic, it's in a small forest and it's far enough from the road that you can bearly hear the street noise, it used to make me scared wen i was younger, and now that i live in a big city, i apreciate the time that i get to spend there because it's so much more sound poluted and this video made me apreciate it even more.

I live in Norway... it is really easy to get away from noise pollution.

Again, in awe of the amazing story telling Aidin. Makes a subject like this so much deeper.

I live in a village within a 100km radius of Delhi in India. I still remember back in 2013 or 2012 how much quite our village was. There still was calming sounds coming from a railway track 3 km away and the planes were a complete menance, they would just vibrate the hell of everything or it seemed to be. But since then many things have changed, A new expressway has been laid in the southern fields of my village and the duration of power supply has increased in my District headquarters and nearby rural areas. I still remember how crazy the night sky looked like. But now when I look in the north-west direction there will be a orange blob of light coming from the district headquarters situated 5 km away and it blocks the whole night sky in the NSW quarter of the sky. The only constellations I can see after keeping my eyes in the dark for several minutes are ursa major and Orion. Noise pollution has increased so much that we usually don't even notice a plane flying by. I wish we could go back to the old times but still have good medicine.

An absolute masterpiece! That’s the content we need to see on social media.

A year ago me and my girlfriend went on a tour of pompeii that ended on a climb to the top of mount vesuvius, I have climbed mountains before when I was younger and never really noticed the silence. But the moment I sat on top of mount vesuvius watching over the bay of naples total peace and quiet.... that moment is something I will never forget and long back for. It was so incredibly calming.

Love this concept, the interview was eye opening on how important true silence really is.

I grew up in Alaska. I hated the life but the sights and sounds defined me. Eventually I moved to Chicago where I met my wife. For whatever reason, it came up one night with me talking about Alaska and the sky at night. Turns out she’s never seen the Milky Way at 34 years old. That broke my heart. Beyond the light, she’s never heard REAL silence and that destroyed me

So glad I clicked, your videos are beautiful! I live in Philadelphia and the noise really gets to me sometimes. I’m visiting Olympic park this summer, and now I’m happy to have one more thing to look forward to

Up in Alaska we have lots of places to camp. I remember realising the absolute silence of the wilderness when I was packrafting upon a lake. It was very peaceful and I wish I was able to experience it more often.

This reminds me of one time I went camping out in central Pennsylvania in a cabin out in the woods. Though there were a few cabins in the area we were in, we were the only ones there. This area of Pennsylvania is so out in the wilderness that there's only one stop light in the entire county. I remember hiking up to the top of a hill, and stopping for a second just to hear absolute silence. No animals, no wind, no nearby rivers, just total silence. That and seeing the stars under a almost completely dark sky are my favorite parts of that trip.

Thank you for making this video. I saw this when it first came out, and ever since then, I've always wanted to visit Hoh. Today I just visited it for the first time. This park is one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

Your feeling for the Olympic National Park is the same way I feel in the deserts of Nevada. It's indescribable.

Your videos should be 10x views or more than what they get. They’re are absolutely beautiful. I’ve literally thought about this video every day since I watched it.

Found your channel through the video on highest trees. Got to say, you’re one the best I’ve seen in a long time. Amazing topics and videography ❤

Got tinnitus, so silence is something I yearn for, but will never achieve. Its sometimes so maddening, I suffer from Insomnia, so sometimes I would lay in bed for hours, the only sound I could hear is a high pitch EEEE, not much you can do about it, either dont think about it or end it. Oh god how I miss the silence.

You're an amazing story teller. Makes me care about things I never even thought about.

I live in europe, bulgaria to be specific and even though the country is 50/50 on cars and public transit, it's still dead quiet in a lot of places. At night especially, I can hear the electricity coming from our power outlets.

Great cinematography. Amazing video man.

I spent 2 nights this fall camping outside of a small self-sustaining town of 10 residents in southern California. The silence was so deafening during the nights that it was hard to sleep. One of the most interesting places I've ever been.

This was a great video essay. I have done binaural fielding recording for documentary work, and I used to be able to get reasonably quiet recordings here in Lancashire. But now it’s so hard to find truly quiet places, road traffic noise permeates every aspect of life. I’ve noticed that I’m growing increasingly intolerant of unnecessary noise in my life and have spotted the increased stress and anxiety I feel if things are too loud.

I spent most of my childhood out in the middle of nowhere, for the longest time all I knew was the sound of silence. As an adult I still consider that quiet nothing to be home despite not having returned for a long time. I miss silence, your short clip of pure forest sounds made me very happy, made me feel like home.

Loving this forest especially around nature and silence which is for mental health. Loving this inspiring Film!

Very nice video man. I enjoyed that and 100% agree. I crave peace and quiet more that most, and know all too well how hard it is to find. But it wasn't until I started field recording several years ago that I realised how bad it actually is. It's virtually impossible to find quiet and stillness anywhere (nature sounds aside) even in the heart of our local woods. Always some noise pollution from cars, planes, people, church bells, and very often too. I find it extremely sad.

Your content has always been spectacular. The title of this video was so intriguing I don't think anybody will miss it. Terrific work on the video btw. Can you tell us the approach that you take to create such a video. Will be really cool to have a in depth analysis on the entire process.