Cicadas - nature's heavy artillery

The humble cicada is the loudest insect on earth - and pound for pound probably the loudest animal of any kind. A one-inch long cicada generates sound levels of around 155 dB inside its carapace, a level that would render any human permanently deaf (our pain threshold is 130 dB, and even heavy artillery produce only 140 dB if you are standing next to them). The specialist muscles that buckle and relax the sides of its abdomen at incredible speed account for 10% of the insect's bodyweight, and the work is so intense that cicadas run at 43 degrees Celsius.

With acknowledgement to Aubrey Manning's BBC series The Sound of Life.

The Sound Agency chairman Julian Treasure was featured in the penultimate programme of the series, which focused on the sound of modern living. For more information, or to listen to any or all of the episodes in this fascinating series, visit the Open University here.

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