The Anthropocene, the epoch of sweeping human-dominated planetary change, has ushered in an understudied phenomenon: extreme noise pollution. And the polluted soundscape is not just a human health hazard, but impacts the dynamics of wildlife too, physiologically, developmentally and behaviourally, found a new study published in Science.

The din of traffic, industrial activity, offshore construction, petroleum exploration, sonar operations and multiple other sources of noise, which has consistently increased during the past 50 years, affects over a 100 aquatic and terrestrial species, said the paper.