Presented at TEDxCannes around the theme of "Happiness and Business", an interesting talk by Julian Treasure regarding sound at work and how it affects the people within the workspace. Design is heavily biased towards appearances but not much towards what we hear. He used various sounds during his talk to demonstrate the effect that we usually just brush off, suppress, ignore or get as far away possible from the sound that we do not like.
Sound affects us in 4 ways:
- Physiologically
- Psychologically
- Cognitively (Even a woman cannot understand two people talking at the same time)
- Behavioral
DO spend some time watching the video:
Take away message:
- Cost saving by cramming a lot of people in one space (open plan offices) does not increase and not equal to productivity but misery as it will create a lot of unpleasant sound.
- Different sorts of work requires different sorts of work spaces.
- Too quiet and too loud spaces are unproductive. Optimal sound levels are about 45-55 dB.
- Design should be for experience not just appearance.
"Go forth and listen", design with sound and complain if the space is not working.
Good sound is not just important for productivity but also for our well-being.
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