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NPR On Point – Engineering the Sound of Our World


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Technology reshaping our sound environment – from the car door to the washing machine to the street. Also: why is Apple really buying Beats?

Most people are highly attuned to sound. Make it beautiful, and we’re happy. Make it grating, we’re annoyed. More and more, the sound around us is anything but random. It is engineered, sculpted, designed. The sound in your earbuds or headphones, or course. But also the sound of your blender, your washing machine, your car door. Designed. Our digital tweets and hums are overtaking birds and crickets. Acoustical engineers are reshaping the sound of amphitheaters, even streets. This hour On Point: the sound of our lives, the world, in the age of sculpted sound.