b. even the insistent cough of the women next to him...
Step-by-step explanation:
in (a) the sense of sight is used to describe the size of the book.
in (b) the sense of sound is used to describe the women's cough as insistent. a cough results in a sharp, loud noise.
in (c) the sense of touch were used to describe the crumbling, frail feel of the book's pages.
in (d) the sense of smell is used to describe the odor of the book's pages.