When the sound waves are finally freed at the end of the shell, they rap much harder on the eardrum. Straining to hear Dr. Killion, I roll a cone of paper, put my phone in the big end and stick the little end in my ear. I hear nothing. And when I pull it out, it is limp with coffee, and bits of old typewriter ribbon cling to the end. Berlin asks me.
Physicists think of sound waves in terms of their intensity, or forcefulness.
Psychologists describe them in terms of how people perceive them, or their loudness. No people in the forest, no loudness. To really hear the sea, Hannah Holmes just walks to the shoreline from her home in Portland, Maine. Hannah's writing also appears on the pages of Escape , Outside , Sierra , Backpacker , Eco Traveler and Women's Sports and Fitness.