Research by Susan Parks, professor of biology and principal investigator of the Bioacoustics and Behavioral Ecology Lab, was featured in the Twenty Thousand Hertz podcast episode, Silent Sea. The show explored the mysteries of aquatic sound and how underwater noise from human activities like cruise ships are affecting whales' ability to communicate.

The episode cited a recent study by Parks, which compared North Atlantic right whale calls from the 2000s and 1950s. Parks' team found that the pitch of the calls had changed over the decades. The researchers believe the whales altered the frequency of their calls because the higher pitched vocalizations can be heard more clearly over the noise of ships.