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Noise: A Human HistoryEpisodes

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  1. The Search for Silence

    30/30Silence has become an ever more desirable state. But when we have it, is it what we want?

  2. An Ever Noisier World

    29/30Prof Hendy travels to Accra, a city so loud that visitors describe it as a visceral shock.

  3. Music While You Shop, Music While You Work

    28/30David Hendy considers how music has been used to soothe, cheer, and inspire us.

  4. Radio Everywhere

    27/30Radio seemed like magic to begin with, then the Nazis exploited its darker powers.

  5. Shell Shock

    26/30Soldiers in WW1 experienced a sonic onslaught. Prof Hendy considers life under bombardment

  6. Capturing Sound

    25/30How recording technology made it possible to catch the fugitive moment.

  7. Life in the City

    24/30Professor David Hendy follows the writer Thomas Carlyle's grumpy attempts at soundproofing

  8. The New Art of Listening

    23/30Professor David Hendy explores how the Victorians learned to listen all over again.

  9. The Beat of a Heart, the Tramp of a Fly

    22/30Medicine's listening revolution in the 19th century with the discovery of the stethoscope.

  10. The Conquering Engines

    21/30Prof David Hendy explores how the sounds of nature gave way to the industrial revolution.

  11. Revolution and War

    20/30The soundscape of civil conflict in 18th-century Paris and 19th-century America.

  12. Slavery and Rebellion

    19/30David Hendy explores the history of slavery through sound.

  13. Master and Servant

    18/30Professor David Hendy eavesdrops with the servants in an 18th-century home.

  14. Shutting In

    17/30Professor David Hendy explains how cramped conditions led to a brutal massacre of cats.

  15. Colonists

    16/30How settlers interpreted the sounds and songs of native American Indians.

  16. Restraint

    15/30New codes of conduct in the 16th and 17th centuries outlawed noise of every kind.

  17. Carnival

    14/30Prof David Hendy tells the story of a medieval street party that lasted for eight weeks.

  18. Heavenly Sounds

    13/30David explores how medieval singers and preachers adapted to the acoustics of holy places.

  19. Tuning the Body

    12/30David Hendy explains how sound played a part in the medieval battle between good and evil.

  20. The Bells

    11/30Prof David Hendy explores how the sound of the bell carries religion out into the world.

  21. The Ecstatic Underground

    10/30David Hendy eavesdrops on the private lives of early Christians.

  22. The Roaring Crowd

    9/30Prof David Hendy considers the visceral impact of a stadium full of noisy humans.

  23. Babble

    8/30David Hendy listens to the babble of ancient Rome.

  24. Persuasion

    7/30Prof David Hendy explores the power of the orator.

  25. Epic Tales

    6/30David Hendy discovers how epic tales were remembered and passed down.

  26. Epic Tales

    6/30David Hendy discovers how epic tales were remembered and passed down.

  27. The Rise of the Shamans

    5/30David Hendy explains why sound is central to the shaman's power.

  28. A Ritual Soundscape

    4/30David Hendy listens to ancient sounds in Orkney's Ring of Brodgar.

  29. The Singing Wilderness

    3/30David Hendy listens to 'The Singing Wilderness'.

  30. The Beat of Drums

    2/30Humans have found many ways to communicate. David goes to Ghana to hear the talking drum.

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