Senses and Space - Ecophon's Acoustics Podcast

In this special edition of a Sound Effect on People our Concept Developer from Ecophon South Africa, Lauren Kruger, discusses with Dr Annemarie Lombard the effect of our sensory intelligence in our daily life.

The podcast gives an insight into how the sensory stimuli affects the way we act within our homes, work spaces, and even our relationships. The sensory stimuli consists of the visuals we see, our auditory, tactile (touch), gustatory (taste), vestibular (movement) and proprioceptive (body awareness). All of these senses have a large impact in the way we learn and focus.

Dr Lombard explains how she creates sensitivity profiles based upon the human senses, and then advises on how to optimise for each of them in order to “improve quality of life”. Alongside this, she also discusses how behaviour and personality can contradict your sensory system; therefore we must make “small and practical changes to align your space”. One of these changes may be improving the acoustic environment; by focusing on their reaction to sound we are able to maximise people’s outcome by utilising sound within a space.

Lauren discusses her view on this; highlighting how our lives are full of so much choice. When we become aware of the effect of sensory stimuli; we are then able to choose the way which we maximise our productivity. For example if you have a low threshold it is likely that you cannot focus in areas which are noisy; due to you getting distracted easily. Therefore you may wish to work within a quiet area in the office. Whereas if you have a high threshold you feel energized from sound; so you may prefer to work in a location with a constant buzz.

Dr. Lombard proposes that applying sensory intelligence can help us to rethink the way we work, learn and live. She proposes that application of these principals can transform and adapt our mind-set to better understand how sensory messages affect our lives. Our world is getting more complex by the day, with our senses being bombarded from all directions. Perhaps this overstimulation has affected our productivity more than we realise? To learn about your own reaction to sensory stimuli, why not complete this online test?

The research was founded in South Africa, however Dr Lombard believes it is important for us globally to consider our senses and space. To continue the discussion, Sensory Intelligence can be found on Twitter and Facebook.