The Sound of Experience

“Music is the shorthand of

emotion.” – Leo Tolstoy

Imagine you are in a small concert hall to hear a string quartet playing Johann Sebastian Bach. The audience is silent and respectful. The air is suffused with the sweet sound of violins and cellos. How are you feeling? Calm? Relaxed? Contemplative?

Now imagine you are in a stadium for a rock concert. The venue is massive, the crowd is in the tens of thousands, everyone cheering and screaming and hooting at the top of their lungs as the band comes on stage. Then comes a wall of sound as big as the stadium itself. How are you feeling? Energized? Awestruck? Ready for anything?

Finally, you are in front of your computer in back to back meetings, listening to a presenter drone on. All the while you are thinking about the deadlines you have to meet, hearing the dog barking and the constant pinging of texts and emails piling up. How are you feeling? Irritated? Stressed? Overwhelmed?

We cannot underestimate the role that sound plays in the human experience. When it comes to designing that experience, sound must be as carefully curated as content or ambience. Sound design can be used to manage energy and arousal levels, regulate emotions, enhance the persuasive power of a presenter, improve knowledge retention, and extend the time an audience wants to spend with you before tuning out.

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