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A few years ago I went to a party in Brazil during cicada season. The event happened in a country club, surrounded by coffee farms stretching over the hills aro

A few years ago I went to a party in Brazil during cicada season. The event happened in a country club, surrounded by coffee farms stretching over the hills around us, and fencing the club itself was a line of tall eucalyptus trees. The stage was huge, maybe three thousand people dancing under the tent. The sound was as always insanely loud, four massive stacks, two main and two delays. A huge wall of subwoofers, maybe 10 meters wide. As you walked from under the tent to the corners of the country club, under the eucalyptus trees, the cicadas would slowly become audible, then loud, then completely overpower the soundsystem, which blew my mind at the time, considering we weren't really that far away from the speakers. In a way even though the cicadas are themselves extremely loud, it created a little chill sound bubble around the event, because their sound somehow still feels like nature, and was definitely more pleasant than the leftover sounds of far away speakers.

tonyarkles 3y ago
This fall I was in Iowa and had to pick up a coworker at the airport in Des Moines. I was sitting in the cellphone lot and as the sun started to set this crazy noise started picking up. It sounded like it was almost... spinning in a circle around the airport. The direction seemed to be constantly moving. For a while I thought it was one of those noise generators that were meant to annoy teenagers. We got back to Ames and I started hearing the same noise in the hotel parking lot. I have no idea what compelled me to think "cicadas" but as soon as I googled it I confirmed that that's what it was. Crazy crazy little creatures! Had a similar experience around dusk earlier this year when I started thinking that I was having vision problems. I kept seeing all of these weird little sparkles of light out in a corn field. Sure enough, fireflies!
bradknowles 3y ago
You want loud? Try Coqui frogs in Hawaii. Loud enough to keep people from being able to sleep. Loud enough to make them literally go insane. Loud enough to make people commit suicide, or at least accidentally drive their cars off the road due to lack of sleep. A single tiny 22 millimeter frog can emit a sound of 91 decibels. Now, ask yourself what happens when you get a bunch of them together.

tonyarkles 3y ago

This fall I was in Iowa and had to pick up a coworker at the airport in Des Moines. I was sitting in the cellphone lot and as the sun started to set this crazy noise started picking up. It sounded like it was almost... spinning in a circle around the airport. The direction seemed to be constantly moving. For a while I thought it was one of those noise generators that were meant to annoy teenagers. We got back to Ames and I started hearing the same noise in the hotel parking lot. I have no idea what compelled me to think "cicadas" but as soon as I googled it I confirmed that that's what it was. Crazy crazy little creatures! Had a similar experience around dusk earlier this year when I started thinking that I was having vision problems. I kept seeing all of these weird little sparkles of light out in a corn field. Sure enough, fireflies!

bradknowles 3y ago

You want loud? Try Coqui frogs in Hawaii. Loud enough to keep people from being able to sleep. Loud enough to make them literally go insane. Loud enough to make people commit suicide, or at least accidentally drive their cars off the road due to lack of sleep. A single tiny 22 millimeter frog can emit a sound of 91 decibels. Now, ask yourself what happens when you get a bunch of them together.