Frogs Singing in Malaysian Swamp at Dusk Judged to Be 'Most Beautiful Sound in the World'

By
Michael Graham Richard
Writer
  • University of Ottawa
Michael Graham Richard is a writer from Ottawa, Ontario. He worked for Treehugger for 11 years, covering science, technology, and transportation.
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Michael Graham Richard
Published January 21, 2014
Updated October 11, 2018 09:37AM EDT
CC BY-SA 2.0. Wikimedia

Winner of an online competition

Sound expert Julian Treasure created an online competition to discover what the most 'beautiful sound in the world' was. Out of all the submissions, a sample recorded at dusk in Malaysian near a swamp was judged to be most beautiful.

"It was a sound of a swamp with a frogs singing. The most amazing, rich recording of just life — teeming life," Treasure said. "And listening to it you really get the sense of nature at its fullest, and most abundant and most exciting."

Here is the winning entry, which you should listen to with headphones to get the full effect:

Of course, beauty is subjective and I don't think anyone is claiming that this is literally the most beautiful sound in the world, but it certainly is quite nice!

And here's an interview with Marc Anderson, the man who recorded this 'beautiful' sound and won the competition:

Unsurprisingly, most of the finalists were also nature sounds, showing how humans are wired to find beauty in those. Here are a few:

Via BeautifulNow, CBC