18: the largest number of Z’s in a single sound effect in the comics of Don Martin from Mad Magazine (for a buzzing bee)
12,000: number of annual premature deaths in Europe attributable to noise pollution
10: number of dollars, in millions, raised by the manufacturer of an “AI-enabled toy uses voice recognition and natural language processing to help instill good sleep habits in children at night and provide entertainment and educational activities during the day”
________
¹Footnotes
Mad: madcoversite.com, hilobrow.com. Europe: newscientist.com. Toy: voicebot.ai
Originally published in the April 25, 2022, edition of the This Week in Sound email newsletter. Get it in your inbox via tinyletter.com/disquiet.