After reading and commenting on Kbott's earlier post, I was inspired to look for other thought provoking topic from the TED website. TED is a site full of short lectures and ideas, their slogan is thought provoking ideas.
While I was watching, I thought to myself, "Why do people react so emotionally to music since it is not one of the 3 needs we have been talking about?" Julian says that music causes recognition and association together these factors equal power, which fits right into our social needs.
In this video Julian Treasure who is the chairman of Sound Agency, which is a firm that advises businesses on how to best use sound to their advantage. He advises people to really take a listen to sounds, listen and feel what responses they emit. How do they make you feel? Sad, happy, productive, lazy? Julian says most music used by businesses is used incorrectly, he says it causes them to lose up to 33% of their business the sound is so dreadful. He hopes to change that.
The ways sound effect us are:
Physiological: Julian sounds a very loud alarm. Which raises cortisol levels in the brain raises heartbeat and anxiety. Many sounds can cause reactions not just abrasive ones. The humans are attracted to the sound of 12 cycle per minute ocean waves. Interestingly enough, this is the same frequency which humans breathe while sleeping.
Psychological: Music is most powerful form of sound that effects emotional state, but not the only one. The sound of birds chirping is calming because for thousands of years, birds chirping has been the sign of everything being fine. You only had to worry about something when the birds stopped chirping.
Cognitively: We have a very limited ability to take in more than one auditory stimulus at a time. A very noisy workspace could be lowering productivity 66%.
Behaviorally: If your listening to intense rock music can you really drive the speed limit? At clubs music definitely affects the way people dance. Even at the most simple level people (even babies) tend to gravitate towards pleasant sounds instead of unpleasant sounds.
Julian also gave some tips for businesses.
4 Golden Rules for businesses.
1. Make it congruent. Increases impact 1100%
2. Make it appropriate.
3. Make it valuable.
4. Test it and Test it again. Sound is complicated.
He hopes to eventually live in a "Sound" world.
He has also came up with something called SoundFlow, which is a model that starts with certain aspects of sound called drivers, goes to filters and finally to outcomes. The method can work starting with a driver, or an outcome so it is simple to find a way to reach the desired results. The implications of SoundFlow could be huge. Taking something the business needs and putting it into the equation and coming up with a sound to help aid the solution.
While I was watching, I thought to myself, "Why do people react so emotionally to music since it is not one of the 3 needs we have been talking about?" Julian says that music causes recognition and association together these factors equal power, which fits right into our social needs.
He hopes to eventually live in a "Sound" world.
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