Code and data for "A synthesis of health benefits of natural sounds and their distribution in national parks" by Rachel Buxton, Amber Pearson, Claudia Allou, Kurt Fristrup, and George Wittemyer. Any questions please get in touch with Rachel.buxton@carleton.ca. Data: Results of literature search for meta-analysis and audibility of biological, geophysical, and anthropogenic sounds at national park recording sites Code: Collating literature search results, performing meta-analysis, GLM modelling of audibility and plotting of results Abstract Parks are important places to listen to natural sounds and avoid human-related noise, an increasingly rare combination. We first explore whether and to what degree natural sounds influence health outcomes using a systematic literature review and meta-analysis. We identified 36 publications examining the health benefits of natural sound. Meta-analyses of 18 of these publications revealed aggregate evidence for decreased stress and annoyance (g = -0.60, 95% CI = (-0.97,-0.23)) and improved health and positive affective outcomes (g = 1.63, 95% CI = (0.09,3.16)). Examples of beneficial outcomes include decreased pain, lower stress, improved mood, and enhanced cognitive performance. Given this evidence, and to facilitate incorporating public health in U.S. national park soundscape management, we then examined the distribution of natural sounds in relation to anthropogenic sound at 221 sites across 68 parks. National park soundscapes with little anthropogenic sound and abundant natural sounds occurred at 11.3% of the sites. Parks with high visitation and urban park sites had more anthropogenic sound, yet natural sounds associated with health benefits also were frequent. These included animal sounds (audible for a mean of 59.3% of the time, sd: 23.8) and sounds from wind and water (mean: 19.2%, sd 14.8). Urban and other parks that are extensively visited offer important opportunities to experience natural sounds, and are significant targets for soundscape conservation to bolster health for visitors. Our results assert that natural sounds provide important ecosystem services and parks can bolster public health by highlighting and conserving natural soundscapes.