That's the sound of air gun testing for…
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Audio question
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That's the sound of air gun testing for the stress of oil and gas under the seabed. " Air gun" is a euphemism for a massive release of compressed air. Don't like it? Neither does underwater life. Such testing also isn't a one-off hurst of 250-decibel sound louder than a jet engine. For days or even weeks at a time, these guns send a volley of ear-shattering sound through the ocean to impact the seafloor every ten seconds or so. That's nearly 9,000 such bursts per day. Our nano cousins, whales and dolphins particularly loathe air guns. Perhaps that's because hundreds of thousands of the animals can be conjured by them each year. As you can imagine, in addition to injuring whales and dolphins through hearing loss, it also puts them off their food and has even been linked to strandings. And it's not just flee mammals. Turtles, fish and other marine creatures are similarly affected as the sound travels for thousands of kilometers. And this is all before any drilling takes place. If fossil fuel exploration is opened up along the U.S. east host , an already noisy neighborhood from ship traffic will get a lot louder.
Opens question #191030 in the RealPTE practice screen.
More Highlight Incorrect Words questions
Highlight Incorrect Words format (Pearson)
| Prompt | Recording of 15–50 seconds |
|---|---|
| Time to answer | Not set per question (Part 3 lasts 31–39 minutes) |
| Skills assessed | Listening, Reading |
How it is scored
- Each correctly clicked word earns 1 point; each wrong click loses 1 point.
- The recording plays only once.
Source: Pearson, PTE Academic & UKVI test format, Part 3: Listening, checked 9 October 2026.