Original version

BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

The Essay Podcast

The Essay

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.

The Essay: The Sound and the Fury

The Essay: The Sound and the Fury: Episode 1

Documentaries

Factual: Health & Wellbeing

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

The Sound and the Fury

Episode 1

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, The Sound and the Fury, Episode 1Close menu

Andrew Martin explains 'phonophobia' and the strange measures he takes to banish it.

In a series about noises that annoy us, author and journalist Andrew Martin explains 'phonophobia' and describes the strange measures he takes to banish it.

The author and journalist Andrew Martin has phonophobic traits, which call for some extreme actions:

"So I went out to buy my first box of earplugs. I must have bought... well, about a box a month ever since. The best ones are made of wax; they're covered in cotton wool and they're about the size of aniseed balls. You get twelve in a box. Soon I know I'd become addicted to them. I had also, by then, become addicted to the use at night of electrical fans for the creation of 'white noise'. I kept them going all night long..."

In the first of five essays, author Andrew Martin lays bare his life as a 'phonophobic'. How to cope with jarring sounds in the modern world? And is there an another way to live without the daily cacophony?

Producer Duncan Minshull

First broadcast in January 2012.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Author and journalist Andrew Martin discusses noises that annoy us

Author and journalist Andrew Martin discusses noises that annoy us. How do we cope with jarring sounds in the modern world and is there an another way to live without the daily cacophony?

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Essay

The Sound and the Fury

Episode 1

Genres

Formats

Brand

Series

BBC Radio 3

About BBC Radio 3