BYU Speeches: "Lessons from Noise: Crackle to Calm" | Kent L. Gee | June 4, 2025

Episode Overview

In this insightful and engaging address, Dr. Kent L. Gee—acoustics physicist, teacher, and mentor—uses his expertise in noise research to explore the physics, personal, and spiritual lessons we can learn from noise, both literal and metaphorical. Drawing on memorable stories from research with rockets, military jets, and even toilets, he illustrates how noise disrupts, distracts, and even harms, but also how intentional efforts can help us find calm amid chaos. Gee connects physical principles of acoustics to managing the mental and spiritual "noise" in our own lives, inviting listeners to seek their own "sacred groves" of peace.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Personal Reflections on Noise and Imposter Syndrome

• Dr. Gee reflects on his feelings of inadequacy upon being selected for the Maeser Award, describing his anxiety as a form of mental "noise" that masked gratitude and motivation.

  “Focusing on gratitude in the midst of imposter syndrome is a personal lesson from noise that I’d like to share.” (03:35)

2. Acoustics 101: What Is Noise?

• An accessible primer on sound waves: pressure fluctuations in the air, frequency ranges (infrasound <20 Hz, audible range, ultrasound >20,000 Hz), and the decibel scale.
• Interactive demonstration: audience rubs fingers near their ears to recognize the eardrum’s sensitivity—"the displacement … is around the diameter of a hydrogen atom" (06:45).
• Loudness perception and noise-induced hearing loss explained, with practical thresholds (e.g., anything over 85 dB is unsafe for long exposures).

3. Health & Societal Impacts of Noise

• Chronic exposure risks: hearing loss, cardiovascular disease, sleep disruption, aggravation of other health conditions—including a 7% rise in violent crime for every 4 dB increase near airports.

  “Noise disrupts, distracts, and debilitates.” (13:00)

4. Noise and Communication: Disruption and Pareidolia

• Demonstration: how noise hampers clear communication—audience hears a mangled recording, showing how distracting noise can be.
• Auditory pareidolia: shared illusion of meaning in random sounds. The story of Elijah in the Old Testament is used as a model for tuning into the "still, small voice" over the chaos.

  "[Elijah] turned away from the noise and its distractions as he learned to recognize an essential, still small voice." (17:35)

5. Active Noise Reduction – Metaphor and Mechanism

• Describes research on 'active noise cancellation': playing a sound wave’s mirror image to cancel out noise; ties this to managing life's distractions.

  "It is the things closest to us that most strongly influence the amount of noise we hear." (20:35)

• Small adjustments can transform our environment—both literally and metaphorically.

6. Research Adventures: Explosions, Aircraft, and Rockets

• Colorful stories of research—
  • Weapons noise and hearing loss among Marines: “at least 13% … leave basic training with permanent hearing loss.” (23:15)
  • Measuring shockwaves at military bases; practical changes saving infrastructure.
  • Balloon explosions at the Bonneville Salt Flats as safe classroom analogs for blast wave studies.
  • The challenge of modeling rocket and aircraft noise, with direct applications for NASA and military projects.
• Audience engagement with live balloon explosion demo.

  “When we ignite the balloon, the molecules react to produce light, water, heat and sound… The sound you heard was something like a shotgun.” (27:00)

7. Unlikely Noise Challenges: The Noisy Toilet

• Quieter aircraft led to in-flight toilet flushes becoming a passenger concern.

  “These toilets use minimum water by leveraging the reduced air pressure outside… Waste is sucked in along pipes into holding tanks at over 100 miles per hour. Now that’s dinner conversation.” (29:00)

• BYU’s solution led to technology transfer and a quieter travel experience.

8. From Jet Crackle to Volcanic Booms

• Military aircraft noise—"crackle"—compared with massive volcanic booms.

  “The January 2022 eruption of the Hunga Tonga volcano was so violent… The eruption was audible in Alaska, 6,000 miles away.” (34:05)

• Gee’s participation in a 75-author Science paper, representing BYU on a global scientific stage, seen as guided opportunity.

9. Rocket Launch Research: SLS, Artemis I, and Starship

• Measuring and modeling rocket engine noise: “Less than 1% of a rocket’s mechanical power is converted into noise, [yet] the sound during launch is overwhelming.” (35:15)
• Notable comparison:

  “…you would have to be surrounded by 40 million bowls of Rice Krispies to equal the maximum a weighted sound level from SLS, three miles away.” (36:41)

• High-profile work with NASA’s Artemis I and Starship, including media coverage and hands-on student research. “Being referred to as a sonic detective by the New York Times somehow makes the research feel that much more exciting.” (37:02)

10. The Promise of Sonic “Thumps”: Toward a Quieter World

• Research on reducing the shocking bang of sonic booms, likening new “sonic thump” technology to distant thunder—making supersonic flight more acceptable and reconnecting us with the idea that noise can be “reshaped.”
• BYU students’ direct involvement in NASA’s X59 “low boom” project, including creation of specialized field equipment.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Hearing Sensitivity:

  "Your eardrum’s displacement in hearing that sound is around the diameter of a hydrogen atom—1/10 of 1 billionth of a meter. Yet you can hear that because of the huge range of sound amplitudes that our ears respond to." (06:45)

• On Impacts of Noise:

  “Chronic noise exposure causes some birds to exhibit a response similar to post traumatic stress disorder in humans.” (12:50)

• On Pareidolia:

  “These phantom words are a form of auditory pareidolia, with noises that distract us as we pursue meaning where none exists.” (16:20)

• On Finding Calm:

  “Like active noise reduction, this intentionality may require us to introduce other sources of sound to counter the noise… Minimizing noise may be built on a series of small, simple measures. And like with NASA's X59 Sonic Thump, it may require some fundamental reshaping. But I am confident that there are meaningful steps we can each take to tune out the crackle and find the calm, all for the benefit of the world.” (39:10)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:26 | Opening remarks; introducing metaphor of noise | | 04:00 | Acoustics primer: how sound works, decibel scale, hearing loss | | 13:00 | Societal and health impacts of noise | | 17:00 | Noise's effect on communication; auditory pareidolia | | 20:30 | Active noise cancellation – science & analogy | | 23:00 | Military & weapons noise research stories | | 27:00 | Live hydrogen balloon explosion demonstration | | 29:00 | Noisy airplane toilets & BYU’s “quiet flush” invention | | 32:00 | Jet crackle, volcanic booms, global noise research | | 35:00 | Rocket launch noise: SLS, Artemis I, Starship | | 36:40 | Rockets vs. Rice Krispies: memorable comparison | | 37:02 | Media recognition and sonic detective anecdote | | 38:00 | Sonic boom to “sonic thump”: NASA’s X59 and future of quiet flight | | 39:10 | Final reflections: intentionality, quiet, and "finding the calm" |

Conclusion: The Spiritual Parallel

Dr. Gee closes with counsel from President Russell M. Nelson, who encouraged finding “quiet time” as “sacred time” to receive revelation and peace:

“As we find quiet times and sacred groves away from all the noise in the world, it is important that we remember that noise’s negative impacts extend far beyond its potential to deafen… I am confident that there are meaningful steps we can each take to tune out the crackle and find the calm, all for the benefit of the world.” (39:10)

This episode blends physics, personal anecdote, and spiritual wisdom into a memorable, entertaining, and practical call for greater awareness of the noises (literal and figurative) in our environments—and the intentional actions, both scientific and spiritual, that can bring greater calm and clarity.