Hearing as the Foundation of Life: The Biology and Politics of Noise

Contemporary civilization, dominated by the cult of metrics and data, has lost its capacity for profound listening. This article attempts to restore hearing to the status of a fundamental sense, one that is not merely an aesthetic accessory but the biological foundation of our embeddedness in the world. The authors analyze the evolutionary mechanisms of hearing, the role of bioacoustics in ecology, and the devastating impact of anthropogenic noise on public health and the quality of social life. The text is a call for critical reflection on our sensory crisis, proposing a shift from the unthinking recording of decibels to a conscious understanding of the soundscape that surrounds us. This interdisciplinary perspective combines biology, environmental humanities, and politics, shedding new light on the significance of silence and sound in the age of digital noise.