Yesterday, I came across an interesting short TED talk by sound consultant Julian Treasure. The presentation—an overview of his understanding of sound as it impacts business—begins with the following observation: “Most of the sound around us is accidental, and much of it is unpleasant.”
Sound consultant Julian Treasure’s TED talk
Treasure’s consultancy is attempting to take this insight and turn it into increased sales, customer satisfaction, and productivity for businesses. At one point in the presentation, the speaker mentions that the noises in open office spaces can reduce productivity to one-third (recommending the use of earphones to decrease cognitive load). This is interesting to me not for possible gains in business efficiency, but because of the way Treasure treats sound as a material for the design of shared spaces.
When we consider how physical space is designed, the focus might be about objects to sit on or how much light the windows allow into a room. Designers are showing interest in sound as material, however, exploring aural systems and how they impact human experience. The Intelligent Street, for example, was an installation that allowed people walking through a public space to text commands to change the audio playing there.
According to Treasure, sound affects people in four ways:
- Physiological—chemical reactions to kinds of noises, such as the release of cortisol when hearing a fire alarm.
- Psychological—emotional reactions spurred by music or sounds from nature (i.e. birdsong makes us feel reassured)
- Cognitive—we have trouble following two conversations at the same time
- Behavioral—our tendency to do or not do something are, in part, a reaction to sound
Knowing who is planning to use a space and what they intend to do there is important to understanding how sound can be used to support activity. That’s one thing Treasure’s productivity advice does not seem to consider: the context of productivity. Individual task-oriented folks may be distracted by background noise, but creative or collaborative activities may be inspired by ambient noises.
There is also an important distinction to be made between common spaces that are physical and those that are digital. Sound in a physical space is the norm, whether it’s a mechanical hum of machinery or the rustling of wind and insects. Like when the birdsong disappears, there is something unsettling about truly silent places. Websites, though, are usually without sound. When you arrive at a cyber-place and are greeted with sound, that may be off-putting. On the computer, we often choose our own soundtracks through iTunes or other media play that has nothing to do, typically, with our choice of digital space.
It was an interesting TED talk and worth five minutes of your time. In addition to writing a book about sound and business, Treasure occasionally blogs on specific aspects of sound, such as his insights on silence and the negative impact of Muzak.