Professor Mark Whittle is a Professor of Astronomy at the University of Virginia and has been part of their academic team since 1986. He specialises in stars, galaxies, cosmology, solar systems, and various observation techniques. His research focuses on the nuclear activity in galaxies and uses radio and optical telescopes. Mark is also fascinated with the different sounds the universe makes, studying sound waves that were emitted billions of years ago and weaving them together to know what...

We’ve all been at the end of a phone call that seems to never run out of automated responses. No matter what we do, we keep getting a computer to tell us their lines are busy, which feels like their customer service representatives would rather do something else than help with our queries. Some of us have an endless thread of patience, others not so much. While the former leads to business or profits, the latter leads to losses, and companies are losing a lot of money due to customers just...

In all my years of working with sound, I’ve only ever encountered one person who disliked birdsong. The birds have been on Earth far, far longer than we have, so it’s no surprise that their songs affect us. Professor David Rothenberg is a distinguished professor of Philosophy and Music at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, a world-class Jazz clarinetist, and the author of the classic international best-seller: Why Birds Sing - which has been turned into a feature-length BBC TV...

The future opens up to a sea of change in the way we communicate with others. As we move from visual to auditory user interfaces, from typing and peering at screens to speaking and listening to others, smart speakers like Siri and Alexa are just the first raindrops of a storm that I believe will sweep away many of the things we’ve become accustomed to. The connection between human and machine is no longer the work of science-fiction. But if you truly want a glimpse of what the future could...

Professor Charles Spence is the Crossmodal Research Laboratory Head at the Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University. He studies how the human brain manages to process and analyze external stimuli to create vibrant multisensory experiences. Charles has published over 500 articles over the last 15 years and has been recognized for his skills and contribution in cognitive science. He is also the author of the book Sensehacking: How to Use the Power of Your Senses for Happier,...

It seems to be common sense to create workspaces that support people in being productive, that they enjoy working in, and that they feel proud to be a part of. Sadly, that has not always been the case. To determine which aspects of a workspace matter to people and make a difference to the way they work and feel, we need an authoritative survey that analyzes everything from workstations and noise to the catering, breakout areas, and lighting - something that allows us to benchmark any...

Over the course of my career, I’ve seen (or more accurately, heard) many businesses and organizations miss the mark and make mistakes when trying to apply sounds in their business. One of the most common audio clangers I’ve come across is the reception space. Many corporate reception areas today are designed to impress the people that enter their business - instead of welcoming them. Their primary focus is often on boosting their company’s success, status, or ‘power’ instead of forming a...

Design awards are handed out all over the world - for how things look. Yet we experience the world in at least five senses and they all affect how we feel, think, and act. There's a great deal of scientific research on the impact of all these inputs, so it’s time now to start designing spaces with a real understanding of how to make all the sensory inputs point in the same direction, instead of clashing with one another. Dr. Sally Augustin is doing just that. She is an Environmental...

For a long time, sound has been a nice-to-have in business. Something you could think about, but not really essential. But that, my friend, is changing. Sound today matters more than ever because there’s an audio revolution happening. You may not have noticed it, but it will have a profound effect on your business. Billions are being invested in speech recognition and voice synthesis - which you’ve probably noticed already with vocal interaction with Siri, Alexa and the like, while...

One of the most profound and possibly long-lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is the change in the way people work - especially those who were working in open-plan offices. “WFH” has become a familiar acronym as people discover all the joys and the challenges of distributed, solo working from home. As we consider coming together in shared spaces again, the big question is - does the traditional office have a future? And if so, what is it? Professor Jeremy Myerson holds the...

We encounter thousands of logos every day, almost all of them visual. But sonic logos also exist, and are now becoming mainstream. They build on a long tradition of sound in marketing: as soon as audio recording and broadcasting became possible early in the 20th century, advertisers and their creative agencies realized the power of sound and the value of iconic sonic assets that can be delivered by a brand voice like the Jolly Green Giant or a jingle like Kit Kat’s ‘Give me a break’. However,...

We spend the vast majority of our lives indoors, but we evolved to operate in a very different environment: in nature. As cities sprang up, a distance grew between the bulk of humanity and the natural world; today, nature struggles to maintain anything but a token foothold in most urban environments. And as we commute from concrete apartment blocks to concrete office buildings, something is lost: our connection to nature. Oliver Heath is an expert and leader of the exciting movement in...

Sound is a huge topic and it’s worth unpacking. Understanding some of the distinctions related to sound can help you to listen more productively so you can discover how to leverage different types of sound for marketing your business, increasing your profits, and even helping your employees be more productive during their workday. Many people do not realize that sound plays an incredible role in every aspect of our lives - from the speed at which we eat, walk, run, and drive to how...

Podcasting is one of the fastest-growing forms of marketing in the world today. Forecast to be a $1-Billion industry in the U.S. in 2021, it’s growing at more than 20% year on year worldwide, with around 1-in-4 Americans and 1-in-6 British people over the age of 12 listening at least once a week. The audience is young, and highly responsive. So what is a podcast? What are the benefits of podcasting for producers and listeners? And how do you do podcasting well? In this episode I...

When was the last time you thought carefully about sound? Most of us don't really think about sound very much - it just happens. If you look around your room right now, I can almost guarantee that everything you see was consciously designed; it's there for a purpose – but this is not true of what you hear. In most of the spaces the soundscape is a byproduct of the way things look and what people are doing. We design almost exclusively for the eyes, not for the ears. But what if I told...

Sound affects almost every aspect of your business, for good or for ill. If you start to design with your ears as well as your eyes, you can transform the effect of your branding or marketing programmes, physical spaces and customer and staff experiences. Each week, we’ll be posting a new show exploring how you can use sound to improve your business results - as well as your own happiness, effectiveness and wellbeing. We’ll be focusing on two critical themes: sound in communication, and...