Soundscaping
We design for the eyes and forget the ears.
Sound affects us physiologically, psychologically, cognitively and behaviourally, every second, and mostly below conscious awareness. Almost nobody designs for it.
This is the talk for architects, designers, developers, workplace teams and the audio industry, and for any organisation that has quietly made its people unable to think.
The talk
Julian begins with what sound does to a human being: heart rate, breathing, hormones, mood, the ability to hold a thought. Then the cognitive cost, which is where the commercial argument lives. Productivity in open-plan offices collapses when people are trying to work inside other people's conversations, and the cost of that dwarfs the cost of preventing it.
From there he moves through the places we get it wrong and the ones we get it right: schools where children can't hear the teacher, hospitals where patients can't sleep, restaurants nobody can talk in, shops whose music is driving away the customers they were chosen to attract. The examples are specific and the fixes are practical.
The talk closes with the brief: how to ask for the sound you want from architects, acousticians and audio teams, and why the decision belongs at the beginning of a project rather than at the end of the budget.
What the audience leave with
- The four ways sound affects us, all the time
- Why open-plan working costs far more than it saves
- What good sound does for learning, healing, selling and working
- How to brief architects, designers and audio teams for the ears
- The commercial case for treating sound as a design decision, not a snag
- What a brand's sound is saying when nobody chose it
Who it suits
- Architecture, interior design and workplace conferences
- Property owners, developers and facilities leadership
- The audio, acoustics and pro-AV industries
- Retail, hospitality, healthcare and education audiences
- Brand and marketing events, where audio branding is the subject
What organisers say
“As one of our top rated speakers, Julian Treasure did just that. He gave a fascinating and engaging talk about the impact of sound on human behavior... these ideas are now being implemented in new retail business models.”
“Julian Treasure is one of the world's leading experts on human communication, not just speaking, but listening, vocal presence, and the power of sound itself.”