He is experiencing temporary lapses of memory, recalling strange and disturbing dreams upon waking, and hearing sounds, including the titular noise which awakens him from his sleep, "like wind, far away, but with a depth like a rumbling of the earth."

When Fusako leaves her husband and returns to the family home with her two little children, Shingo starts to perceive the marital difficulties of his son and daughter as the result of not fulfilling his role as a father.

The protagonist Shingo constantly reflects on his ageing, which manifests itself in his loss of memory, eyesight and even his male potency, wondering why he was not aroused during an erotic dream.

The Sound of the Mountain completely takes the point of view of its protagonist, emphasising on his interior reactions rather than on exterior events, and disregards any thoughts of the subordinate characters.

Kawabata's novel was adapted into a film as Sound of the Mountain in 1954, directed by Mikio Naruse and starring Setsuko Hara, Sō Yamamura and Ken Uehara.