In the middle of the Atlantic, in the very deep water around the isolated islands of the Azores, the open ocean is like a desert. Much of the life in these areas is specialized to live in the cold depths. Here, light is very low (or non-existent!) and food, prey, and conspecifics are spread out over the large expanse of dark, featureless water.

Sound is the light in the dark for the creatures that live here. They use it for nearly everything: to navigate, hunt, socially bond, communicate, and evade potential predators. However, persistent man-made noise is constantly reverberating in the background, sometimes traveling across entire ocean basins. Louder noises from shipping, fishing, geophysical seismic surveys, and the military can be so powerful that they prevent animals from key behaviors that are essential to their survival. In the worst cases the noises are so loud they can cause irreversible hearing damage or even be lethal! It’s similar to us being in light so bright we cannot see.

We are searching for pristine soundscapes, those few remaining areas untouched by human noise. We know that the Azores, despite being in the vast expanse of ocean will not be untouched. Moreover, some deep diving, highly specialized species of whales live here that are very dependent on sound to survive. Scientists are studying how they react and affected by very loud anthropogenic noises, so that we can better protect them by mitigating for any negative affects.