“…Recently, the use of high-intensity anthropogenic sounds, particularly midfrequency (2-4·kHz) sonar, has been associated with mass strandings of Cuvier's beaked whales (Evans and England, 2001;Frantzis, 1998;Simmonds and Lopez-Jurado, 1991). Physiological mechanisms including rectified diffusion of gas bubbles in tissues (Crum and Mao, 1996;Houser et al, 2001), gas emboli formation in body fats (Jepson et al, 2003;Fernandez et al, 2004) or bubble or lung resonance (Finneran, 2003) may explain the observed hemorrhaging in the lungs, acoustic pathways, brain, spinal cord, kidneys and eyes, congestion and bubbles in the brain, and embolisms in body fats in stranded animals (Evans and England, 2001;Fernandez et al, 2004). The role that sound exposure played in these strandings and subsequent deaths remains controversial.…”