Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I love reading other people's papers on the Tube.
A great deal of our work involves switching music off.
I often go into shops and ask them to turn the music down.
As parents, we tend to be in Tell rather than Listen mode.
The desire to be right can be very destructive in relationships.
Sound changes moods, yet most of the sound around us is unplanned.
Unlike so many other sounds, there's no maximum exposure to birdsong.
It's time architects start designing for our ears as well as our eyes.
While interrupting is not always wrong, it should never become a habit.
Not even a woman cannot understand two people talking at the same time.
If you want to be listened to, the first step is to listen well yourself.
Your ears are always on - you have no ear lids. They work even when you sleep.
In the U.K., architects train for five years, and they spend one day on sound.
All of our physical rhythms are being affected by sound outside us all the time.
There are just huge benefits to come from designing for the ears in our health care.
It's a common mistake to speak the same to everybody. We all have different filters.
If you're surrounded by noise all the time, it has a pretty bad effect on the spirit.
Most of us walk around with our ears switched off because so much noise is unpleasant.
Listening is an activity. It's not passive. We are creating the world by listening all the time.
The trouble with listening is that so much of what we hear is noise, surrounding us all the time.
We experience every space in five senses, so it's strange that architects design just for the eyes.
I would suggest that our listening is the main way that we experience the flow of time from past to future.
I have visited a number of boutique hotels where you feel there is a little bit of self-indulgence going on.
Without our natural soundscape, we are making ourselves tired, stressed, and frightened all at the same time.
We vote for politicians with lower voices, it's true, because we associate depth with power and with authority.
You can detect a hostile listening or a bored listening or a tired listening or an excited and engaged listening.
When you hear a child's voice, it will have that immediate effect of putting you in mind of looking after children.
If we're not listened to, then that doesn't create a desire inside us to listen to others. Societally, we don't value it.
It's an interesting door opening, this use of sonic signalling - using sound to alert us in a more subtle way than a beep.
My dream is to make the world sound better, but the only way to do that is to let businesses see that there is profit in it.
I think it's pretty pointless, my children learning to use a keyboard - we will just talk to our computers. Why would we not?
If you put music on top of noise, it's like putting icing on top of mud; it might look like a cake, but it doesn't taste like one.
I think absolute honesty may not be what we want. I mean, 'My goodness, you look ugly this morning.' Perhaps that's not necessary.
It is a mistake to assume that everyone listens like you do: your listening is as unique as your fingerprints, and so is everyone else's.
By starting to pay attention to our natural soundscapes, businesses can reduce staff turnover, increase productivity, and increase profits.
There's a lot of research now showing that noise, and the lack of quiet working space, is one of the biggest issues for all office workers.
The Hindus say, 'Nada brahma,' one translation of which is, 'The world is sound.' And in a way, that's true, because everything is vibrating.
People often mistake our mission at The Sound Agency for a crusade for silence, but actually, silence is in many ways just as bad as too much noise.
Some of my best friends are architects. And they definitely do have ears. But I think sometimes they don't use them when they're designing buildings.
Someone else's paper is fascinating until you buy it yourself. Then it loses its appeal, and you have to pass it on to someone else to reinvigorate it.
Sound in a space affects us profoundly. It changes our heart rate, breathing, hormone secretion, brain waves. It affects our emotions and our cognition.
Sound is complex; there are many countervailing influences. It can be a bit like a bowl of spaghetti: sometimes you just have to eat it and see what happens.
For the great speakers, it's all about the audience. And the feeling they have is that they're giving a gift, of maybe knowledge or inspiration or motivation.
Music is made to be listened to, so you immediately have an issue where you're playing it in the background like wallpaper. Music doesn't want to behave like that.
This devaluing of listening is handed down from generation to generation. There are many children who don't have the experience of being listened to by their parents.
Music is the most powerful sound there is, often inappropriately deployed. It's powerful for two reasons: you recognize it fast, and you associate it very powerfully.
Noise is the number one problem in modern offices. A big part of addressing this issue is making sure unwanted sound from adjacent spaces doesn't intrude or interfere.
We spend all our time teaching reading and writing. We spend absolutely no time at all, in most schools, teaching either speaking or, more importantly still, listening.
We're designing environments that make us crazy. And it's not just our quality of life which suffers. It's our health, our social behavior, and our productivity as well.
Sound affects us physiologically, psychologically, cognitively, and behaviorally all the time. The sound around us is affecting us even though we're not conscious of it.