CAN SOUND BE EXPERIENCED WITHOUT HEARING?!?!?! I believe it can. I recently listened to a presentation on TED.com given by Julian Treasure over the four ways sound affects us.

The first way in which we experience sound is Physiological. Sounds are affecting our hormone secretions all the time; our breathing, our heart-rate, and our brainwaves.Examples of this can be waking up from our alarm clock in the mornings, a doorbell being rung, or a more pleasant sound such as waves crashing that can help us to get to sleep at night.

The second way in which sound affects us is Psychological. Music is the most powerful form of sound that affects our emotions. However, it is not the only form that affects our emotions. The sound of birds chirping can make us feel safe, but when they stop, we worry. Or even waves, as mentioned in the first example. We may feel calm and relaxed when we hear them crashing.

The third way in which sound affects us is Cognitive. We can’t understand multiple people talking at once; we have to choose which person we are going to listen to. We have a very small bandwidth for processing auditory input, which is why noise found on the streets of Chicago on a busy Monday morning, for example, can be extremely damaging to productivity. People who work in those kinds of conditions have a productivity decrease of 66% as opposed to working in an office building or at home.

The fourth way sound affects us is Behavioral. The chances of someone listening to upbeat techno music while driving at a steady speed of 28 mph is unlikely. At the simplest, we move away from unpleasant sound, and toward pleasant sound. Many who work retail, and have certain types of music playing about as shoppers come and go, may experience a 28% decrease in sales due to unpleasant music or music that’s too loud. Julian shows a chart he calls SoundFlow that’s a bit hard to see, so I’ve recreated it a bit larger. This chart allows us to see the drivers of sound, analyze the soundscape, and predict the four outcomes above. Working from the bottom up allows us to choose an outcome and design a soundscape to have a desired affect. and vice-versa.

Brands like Nokia and IBM even have sounds that we all recognize, and are played thousands of times each day, which can sometimes become quite annoying after too long. Julian gives four golden rules for commercial sound:

1. Make it cognitive
2. Make it appropriate
3. Make it valuable
4. Test it, and test it again

After watching Julian’s presentation, I started to think: Can sound be experienced without hearing? Is there a 5th way? Or even more? Do we interpret sound through vision? Do the fusion of these two senses influence what we’re attracted to or drawn away from? What role does design have in the way humans interact with sound and vision? Looking out from the 3rd story window of the office building I’m currently working in, I can see that it is a beautiful fall day. The sun is shining, not a cloud in the sky, the large tree across the street has lost most of its leaves, and those that remain are gracefully swaying back and forth by a gentle wind. There are no cars bustling about, no one is walking on the sidewalks, and for once… there’s no construction near by. Because of what I see, and an existing knowledge of certain things, I can interpret what it might sound like outside, but until I open the window, allowing a higher frequency of sound to filter in, I can’t know for sure. Sure enough, it’s just as I thought. The noise is very minimal at the moment. The only consistent noise taking place is the wind. Without being able to see what’s happening outside of my window, my ability to accurately predict what sounds are taking place is poor, yet when elements are introduced, such as opening the window, my absence of sight can be interpreted using what I can hear. Using what I hear, I can begin to paint a mental picture of what my surroundings might look like, much like how we envision scenes through reading a novel or hearing a story.

LiveScience.com provides a simple breakdown of how this works in an article titled “Scientists Say We Can See Sound”. The auditory system records sound, while the visual system focuses on the visuals. A higher cognitive producer, like the brain’s superior colliculus, uses these separate inputs to create our cinematic experiences. The article continues on about researchers who trained monkeys to locate a light flashed onto a screen. When the light was very bright, they easily found it; when it was dim, it took a long time. But if a dim light made a brief sound, the monkeys found it in no time. After examining recordings from 49 neurons responsible for the earliest stages of visual processing, researchers found activation that mirrored the behavior. That is, when the sound was played, the neurons reacted as if there had been a stronger light, at a speed that can only be explained by a direct connection between the ear and eye brain regions, said researcher Ye Wang of the University of Texas in Houston.

Through the lens of design, I wonder how I’ve acted on this in some of the projects I’ve been involved with over the years. Have I created something at the expense of looking “cool” or “trendy” but in turn have pushed people away or lured them close for the wrong reasons? I am a firm believer that the products I design evoke all senses on some levels, obviously some more than others, but at least enough to influence a person to some extent on each sense alone. I believe that certain colors hold certain meanings for people, just as certain sounds represent certain experiences. Even certain textures have a role, absolutely. And what about Synesthesia–the rare ability to feel, hear, and taste colors? Together, each of these senses working together can have a tremendous impact on the future of design that I look forward to being a part of.