Lost Songs of Nature: Nature’s Symphony in the Age of Noise Pollution, by Michel Leboeuf, translated by Neil Macmillan
Great Plains Press, 2025
186 pages, paperback
In Lost Songs of Nature, Michel Leboeuf invites readers to Québec, to discover the music of Canada’s changing ecosystems. The soundscape of Québec is shifting, according to Leboeuf, a biologist and former Editor-in-Chief of the journal Nature sauvage for 10 years. The word soundscape, coined by composer, theorist, and ecologist R. Murray Schafer in 1977, encompasses the diverse range of noises in which all living things are immersed. Soundscapes may be generated either naturally or by way of human activity. The book begins by fast forwarding through a brief timeline of soundscapes throughout Québec.
Lost Songs of Nature is organized as if a symphony, with the book divided into movements. Leboeuf, who became accustomed to listening to bird songs both for his professional work and for pleasure, reveals that his ability to hear high-pitched bird songs is deteriorating. His experience with this type of loss in some ways corresponds with his observations about “nature’s symphony” growing quieter every day. Imagine a string orchestra reduced to a quartet or soloist. Leboeuf adapts to the changes in his hearing by using a recorder and headphones, allowing him to play back what he captures and listen for subtleties.
A spark of curiosity leads Leboeuf to purchase a sound level meter to measure decibel intensity as he encounters sounds, and his findings are documented in the Lost Songs of Nature. Research on humanmade noise and animal welfare points to the impact of noise pollution as it relates to stress, physiology, and reproduction. With regard to humans, the World Health Organization states that chronic exposure to excessive noise increases the likelihood of mortality associated with high blood pressure. Leboeuf’s strategies for combatting these negative effects of noise pollution include vegetation noise barriers, increased surface area at parks and green spaces, and planting trees. Additional natural sound, through natural waterscapes and native birdsong for example, can help mask humanmade noise and even improve cognitive performance.
Leboeuf goes on to demonstrate how a decline in biodiversity changes a soundscape and threatens the very ecosystems that amphibians, birds, fish, insects, mammals, and plants call home. Other types of pollution, habitat loss and fragmentation, climate change, overexploitation of natural resources, and invasive species can combine with or exacerbate noise pollution to further degrade and break down the harmony of ecosystems. In an effort to counter this decline, Leboeuf suggests that humans appreciate the beauty of nature, reduce their impact on the Earth, and show humility.
Full of vivid descriptions and facts, Lost Songs of Nature conveys an urgency to become attuned to nature. Readers can take action by listening to the sounds around them, collecting data, and protecting diverse habitats. Leboeuf maintains the view that the living world will recover from this crisis. Similar to the feelings that arise when a beloved song is nearing its end, readers might find themselves reluctant to part ways with Leboeuf’s book.
As a child, Aisha White loved outdoor play. While searching for new subjects to photograph as an adult, her interest in birding was ignited. Now a Georgia-based writer working in content marketing, she enjoys listening to songs on repeat, watching documentaries, and spending time in nature.
