Hear and Now More and more sound-savvy entrepreneurs are realizing that silence isn't always golden when it comes to their Web sites.

Shh. If you listen closely to the Net today, you can hear quirky noises, spoken instructions and background music. What's going on here?

Web sites are getting loud. Entrepreneurs have realized that adding audio is a relatively easy and inexpensive way to keep visitors more engaged with site content and to encourage them to come back for more.

In fact, three-fifths of the Web's top 75 sites feature audio, according to recent data from Jupiter Media Metrix. Jupiter also revealed the most popular uses of sound on the Web today: product/corporate description (73 percent), promotional information (27 percent), ambiance music (23 percent) and navigation instructions (7 percent). And although audio elements were once reserved for music-oriented destinations, a wider range of sites is now becoming interested in the idea.