The Rumble and the Roar

"The Rumble and the Roar" by Stephen Bartholomew is a science fiction story that spotlights the struggle of a man named Joseph Partch in a future world drowning in noise. Joseph, ironically tasked with creating a sound-canceling device, finds himself spiraling into isolation as the relentless noise of the city and his workplace grinds him down. The story follows Joseph's desperate search for peace, which leads him to use his own invention, with unexpectedly disastrous results. The extreme quiet he achieves pushes his mind to its breaking point, leaving him in a state of complete mental collapse. Bartholomew uses Joseph's experience to examine how constant noise impacts the human mind and asks if true silence might be more damaging than we realize.