How to Be a Better Human
How to Be a Better Human

The last places without human sounds (w/ Matt Mikkelsen)

August 24, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The last places without human sounds (w/ Matt Mikkelsen)

Most people know about light pollution—the way city glow blots out the stars. Fewer have heard of its sonic equivalent: noise pollution. Matt Mikkelsen, a field recordist and executive director of Wilderness Quiet Parks, has built his career around it. He records natural soundscapes and works to preserve places where human noise doesn't dominate. But as he explains, the goal isn't silence. It's something more nuanced and personal.

Quiet is not silence

Mikkelsen draws a sharp distinction between the two. "Silence is a physical condition," he says—an absence of sound pressure, achievable in a recording studio or an anechoic chamber. Quiet, by contrast, is a feeling. "The Amazon jungle is a quiet space. It doesn't have a lot of noise pollution. It feels very quiet in the soul, but it's certainly not silent. It's cacophonous and roaring and loud." This distinction matters because it reframes conservation: protecting quiet doesn't mean eliminating sound. It means protecting the ability to hear natural sound without human interruption.

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (07:06) **Matt Mikkelsen Introduces His Work and the Quiet vs. Silence Distinction** - Matt explains his role as a field recordist studying quiet, and immediately draws a crucial philosophical line between silence and quiet.
  • 2 (09:49) **Why Protecting Quiet is a Difficult but Vital Mission** - Matt explains why "quiet" is a hard-to-define resource that is being lost, and why experiencing it firsthand makes its importance undeniable.
  • 3 (11:48) **The Ecological and Human Health Case for Quiet** - Matt details the concrete biological harms of noise pollution and the benefits of quiet for both animals and humans.
  • 4 (12:59) **Redefining Quiet as a Personal, Subjective Feeling** - Matt expands the definition of quiet beyond decibel levels to include activities that create a sense of personal peace.
  • 5 (16:12) **How Upbringing Shapes Our Perception of Noise and Quiet** - The conversation explores how growing up in a loud city versus a quiet environment changes your baseline for what is "normal" sound.
  • 6 (20:27) **The Nuance of "Bad" Human Sound** - Matt clarifies that not all human-made sound is bad, but context and consideration for others are key.
  • 7 (21:33) **The Mission and Structure of Quiet Parks International** - Matt explains how the organization works to save quiet for all life, using a global, volunteer-driven model.

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Show Notes

What is natural sound in an increasingly noisy world? asks sound recordist and audio engineer Matt Mikkelsen. Matt travels the world recording natural sounds in places where you can’t hear anything made by humans: no planes, no cars, no ringing phones. In this episode, Matt joins Chris to talk about the difference between quiet and silence. Matt shares his adventures  and work with Quiet Parks International and even shares a story about the time he was struck by lightning. They also talk about the importance of choosing our acoustic environment and why it’s important to unplug and sit still in nature.


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