Julian Treasure is a leading Ted Speaker and founder of The Sound Agency. We catch up with him to talk about how sound affects us on four different levels: physiologically, psychologically, cognitively and behaviourally. He discusses dynamic biophilic soundscapes and how we can use nature in improving acoustics and how we should be using good sonic design and aural architecture to make the places we work in, learn in and heal in, better.
Sound is such a profound gift, our ear-drum is the size of the nail on our little finger, and yet this little membrane helps us decode the voices of our loved ones or Beethoven’s 9th. The sound is turned into impulses in fluid which is picked up by little hairs which respond to different frequencies, and as the move they trigger neural impulses which go to the brain. This physical, electrical, mechanical and neural process is a miracle when you think about it, and yet it is the sound of our environment which is often last on the agenda when it comes to design.
Julian discusses the challenges of the open plan office (which we’ve discussed the negative implications before on this podcast) and what we can do about it. He mentions research that explores how hospitals can be so noisy, that they can rise to 12 times the World Health Organisation’s maximum noise levels by day, and in schools, one German study found that the average level was 65db (projectors, fans, group work, all the technology, and so on), how on earth do we expect children to learn when they are trying to decode what the teacher is telling them? He says it’s like watering your garden and missing the plants!
As a positive solution his work at the Sound Agency and with one of his products, Moodsonic, he creates biophilic nature soundscapes. These beautiful biophonic sounds are used in different zones, for instance to encourage focus, relaxation or for blocking out the consonants of unwanted conversations (he describes how this works in the podcast).
This is a fascinating podcast and one that deserves a couple of listens to, it is inspiring for anyone involved in making spaces happier and healthier for everyone, whether that’s at home, town or city level, in healthcare, education, retail, any space.
Let’s reconnect with nature, embrace circadian rhythms and look at how we can make all our spaces better acoustically, designing without cacophony and embracing dynamic soundscapes that help connect people to the outdoors through responsive sound.
To find out more about Julian, visit his website https://www.juliantreasure.com
Or download his audio book which will inspire you to be better listeners and better speakers too: How to be Heard: Secrets for Powerful Speaking and Listening.
Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all our podcasts.
Did you know our podcast is also on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, vurbl, podbay, podtail, and most if not all the RSS feeds?
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