Roads are prevalent across the globe and so is the traffic noise. I draw upon past work to present a framework for understanding the effects of traffic noise on animals. This framework presents noise pollution as either masking biologically important sounds, distracting from important tasks, or misleading animals into interpreting noise as a biologically relevant sound. Animals might respond to noise by adjusting behaviorally. For example, they might switch to using visual cues, adjust vocalization, or simply leave the noisy area. Noise differentially affects individual animals both within and between species and the choice of an animal to remain in a noisy area often comes at a fitness cost. Noise also disrupts human–wildlife interactions by masking acoustic signals such as bird songs, thus leading to less support for conservation action. There are several methods for mitigating traffic noise, including noise-attenuating walls and traffic management, but these methods are understudied. Noise must be better managed in the future to protect wildlife populations into the Anthropocene.