The Quiet Mark Podcast

10 yrs from now, what sound will transport you straight back to 2020? Clapping Our NHS Heroes? Louder birdsong during lockdown?   In this episode, we explore the first-ever Sound of the Year Awards with Matthew Herbert and Cheryl Tipp. We also look at the huge increase in natural soundscape stream that has occurred during lockdown and discuss the art of field recording.   The inaugural Sound of the Year Awards 2020 is a newly launched celebration of everyday sound (not music) in all its forms presented by The Museum Of Sound in partnership with The New BBC Radiophonic Workshop and others.   The awards aim to highlight the rapidly-growing international community of sound professionals and enthusiasts. During lockdown there has been a chance to hear the world differently, cities, in particular, have been transformed as they’ve emptied. Sound, listening and a healthy sonic environment are becoming recognised as a vital part of our daily lives.   Where there are many awards shows for everything associated with moving images, the time seems right to acknowledge and support those working hard to build and share their knowledge and recordings of moving audio in this new age of sound.    Matthew Herbert - BBC New Radiophonic Workshop & Cheryl Tipp - Curator of Wildlife & Environmental Sounds - British Museum are both Judges at The Sound of the Year Awards. Our host, Simon Gosling, finds out what all the noise is about!   In addition, he asks Cheryl Tipp to share the ins and outs of her role looking after the 250K recorded sounds archive at The British Library and what being a Curator of Natural Sounds at The British Library entails.

In this episode, we explore the future sound of hospitals, with ambient electronic musician and the founder of Sen Sound, Yoko Sen. In a recent episode, Marcia Jenneth Epstein, author of SOUND AND NOISE: A Listener's Guide to Everyday Life, spoke of how our sense of hearing still functions in a coma and is the last sense to go when we pass away, which raised the question, 'What's the last sound you'd like to hear?' Research has demonstrated that 72% to 99% of clinical alarms are false. The high number of false alarms has led to alarm fatigue. Alarm fatigue is sensory overload when clinicians are exposed to an excessive number of alarms, which can result in desensitization to alarms and missed alarms. Patient deaths have been attributed to alarm fatigue. Not only is this volume of sound stressful and exhausting for the clinicians and hospital staff, for the patients it's hardly conducive to their recovery. With Sen Sound, Yoko pursues a vision to transform the sound environment in hospitals.  As a classically trained musician, sensitive to sound, she was disturbed by the noise she had experienced in hospitals as a patient.  Since then, she has embarked on a mission to humanize the hospital experience by improving its soundscapes. Yoko has presented nationally and internationally, including TEDMED (2018) and Aspen Ideas Festival: Health (2019), and her work has been featured in New York Times, BBC, and STAT. Sen Sound’s initiative, “My Last Sound,” was selected as a Top Idea by Open IDEO’s End of Life challenge, involving hundreds of people from around the world sharing the last sound they wish to hear.  Sen Sound has collaborated with companies such as Medtronic to improve the sound experience design of medical devices, and it has been named as a 2020 finalist for the International Design Excellence Award by the Industrial Designers Society of America. Sen Sound has produced a film, “Sounds of Caring: New York,” which has become an official selection at six film festivals internationally and won Bronze Award at Independent Short Awards (Sep 2020).   At this time of a global pandemic, clinicians and medical staff are under intense pressure. Treating an ever increasing number of patients and finding enough emergency beds is far more urgent a priority than sound and acoustics. Nevertheless, news of vaccinations provides hope that we are in the beginnings of an end to this global catastrophe. The work that Yoko does with Sen Sound, and the product development innovation of our Quiet Mark Certified Manufacturer partners, found on our acousticsacademy.com, will all combine to improve the future sound of the hospital experience, be that the joy of the birth of a new child, or the sad passing of a loved one.

Sound Walking into 2021 - Taking strides to improve urban sound design It’s reported that app usage has surged 40% during the pandemic, reaching an all-time high of over 200 billion hours during April 2020. Videoconferencing, collaboration software, streaming entertainment, fitness and wellness apps have seen booms in recent months. With this being our first episode of 2021, we thought we’d pick up on that New Year, New You fitness and wellness boom and do something to promote the well-being benefits of Sound Walking. In this episode, we enjoy a discussion with 3 guests whose companies' products and services help us to not only enjoy sound walks but also gather information and data to help design and build calmer outdoor soundscapes and healthier cities. Renate Zentschnig and Michiel Huijsman are Directors of Soundtrackcity, a company that investigates sound as a fundamental part of the living environment. Interdisciplinary teams of sound artists, citizens and architects listen to the city and together formulate new concepts and methods for the urban design of the future. Founded in Amsterdam in 2009, Soundtrackcity is now active in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Istanbul and Berlin. Grant Waters is the CEO and Co-founder of Tranquil City, an Environmental Data Company whose mission is to help everyone lead healthier and more sustainable lives in cities. Their work in creating multidisciplinary solutions that tackle the very human problems of living and thriving in big cities combines big data, local knowledge and public co-creation. Grant is an experienced Acoustic Consultant, also working for Anderson Acoustics, and has worked on many prestigious architectural and soundscape projects that push for a new way to approach acoustic design. At Anderson Acoustics, he has also worked closely with the Quiet Mark acoustic analysis team since 2017.

A terrific trio of guests joins our host, Simon Gosling, for Episode 13 of The Quiet Mark Podcast. Jessica Smith and James Mills from ROCKWOOL, the UK's leading manufacturer in sustainable non-combustible stone wool insulation, and Claudio Passavanti, aka Doctor Mix, a Music Producer, Digital Entrepreneur and YouTube Sensation with 500K Followers.   ROCKWOOL Limited is part of the ROCKWOOL Group. With one factory based in Bridgend, South Wales and over 500 employees across the UK, we are the local organisation offering a full range of high-performing and sustainable insulation products for the construction industry.   In addition to discussing how ROCKWOOL's range of insulation products was used to help build the music studio of Claudio's dreams, we explore how ROCKWOOL can be used to thermally and acoustically transform our homes and improve our work from home environments to increase productivity and wellbeing. With homeowners across England exploring the opportunities presented by the Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme, stone wool insulation manufacturer, ROCKWOOL, has launched the ‘ROCKWOOL Green Homes Grant app’ to support those looking to access funding for energy efficiency improvement projects.   ROCKWOOL is one of many products listed in Quiet Mark's Acoustic Academy. This brand-new online platform further equips and empowers architects, builders and designers with a guide to expertly verified leading acoustic solutions for every building application area: acousticsacademy.com   Find out more about ROCKWOOL's Quiet Mark certified products here: https://www.quietmark.com/brands/rockwool

In this insightful discussion, Jack Richardson, a Senior Acoustic Consultant at Hilson Moran, shares his passion for creating beautiful acoustics, stemming from his musical background. Spencer Drake, Regional Sales Manager at Armourcoat, highlights his experience with prestigious projects. They delve into the challenges of reverberation in architecture, emphasizing sustainable solutions for healthy spaces. The conversation also touches on the impact of the pandemic on workspace acoustics, the growing importance of sound in design, and the new online Acoustics Academy aimed at empowering professionals.

Musicologist and Historian at The University of Calgary, Marcia Jenneth Epstein has recently released her latest book, Sound and Noise: A Listener's Guide to Everyday Life, on McGill-Queen's University Press. This book is about how you listen and what you hear, about how to have a dialogue with the sounds around you. Marcia Jenneth Epstein gives readers the impetus and the tools to understand the sounds and noise that define their daily lives in this groundbreaking interdisciplinary study of how auditory stimuli impact both individuals and communities. Through its international award programme, Quiet Mark enables consumers to improve their domestic soundscapes and encourages industry to prioritise acoustics in the built environment; expertly testing and verifying solutions to noise problems to benefit health and well being. Sound and Noise is a timely evaluation of the noise that surrounds us, how we hear it, and what we can do about it. In Episode 11 of The Quiet Mark Podcast, Marcia shares what lead to her writing the book and stories from it, with show host, Simon Gosling, CMO at Quiet Mark. 

On Sept. 29th 2020, ABC.net was one of many global publications to highlight a study by our guest on Ep. 10, Acoustics PhD Candidate, Mahmoud Alamir of Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia. Under the headline: "Noisy restaurants leave a bad taste for diners, researchers recommend quiet spaces", Malcolm Sutton writes, Polished concrete and hard surfaces may be all the rage for today's cafes and restaurants but, according to Flinders University researchers, the accompanying noise levels are reducing people's enjoyment of food. Using an 11-point Likert scale to rate participants' responses, the study found that restaurant and traffic noise at all levels reduced people's enjoyment of food, but it tasted worse the louder those noises became. On the flipside, however, the paper found that relaxing music increased people's food enjoyment — by 60 percent at 30dBA, and by 38 percent at 40dBA. In addition to his studies of sounds effect on our dining experience, Mahmoud also speaks to our host, Simon Gosling about his exploration of sound's impact on our sleep and another one of his studies, "The Human response to wind farm noise compared to road traffic noise based on focused listening tests".  Mahmoud Alamir has a considerable number of years of international research experience in engineering and programmes. He has developed, co-ordinated, lectured, assessed and examined a wide range of courses. He is now doing research with Australian experts in projects funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). He's presented his research at a number of internationally prestigious journals, conferences, workshops, and seminars. He's also tutored, lectured and coordinated a number of courses including acoustics at theUniversity of Adelaide and Flinders University. "My general research interests are acoustics and its relation to heat, airflow and human responses (i.e. Thermoacoustics, Aeroacoustics and Psychoacoustics), Mahmoud tells Simon. "I am currently studying the effect of noise on human responses during my PhD program. In particular, I am studying the effect of wind farm noise on sleep acceptability. In my current and previous work, I use state of the art artificial intelligence models for acoustical problems".   Food, Sleep, Energy and Power - a listen to this fascinating episode really highlights how sound is at the very heart of every element of our lives. Thus providing further emphasis on the need for quiet machines and appliances and improved acoustics in the built environment; made possible by the products and materials that are certified by Quiet Mark and included its AcousticsAcademy.com online platform; to further equip and empower architects, builders and designers with a guide to expertly verified leading acoustic solutions for every building application area. 

If clever audio branding can influence our behaviour and drive our purchase decisions, what impact can good acoustic architecture and sound design in the built environment have on our well being and mental health? In Ep.9 of The Quiet Mark Podcast, Simon Gosling seeks answers to that question from one of the world’s leading experts in the field of sonic identity, Steve Keller, to find out, when it comes to sound in adverts, what makes people tick and why, and to explore the lessons this can teach us in our approach to the acoustic design of products and places. Steve Keller is Sonic Strategy Director for Studio Resonate, Pandora’s audio-first creative consultancy. With a degree in psychology and over 30 years of experience in the music and advertising industries, Steve’s work explores the ways music and sound impact consumer perception and behaviour. Recent experiments have examined the relationship between sound and taste, the existence of audio archetypes, the cost and benefits of music, soundscapes and noise in healthcare settings, and how bias impacts the aesthetic judgements of advertising professionals. Steve raises the subject of ‘Alarm Fatigue’ in hospitals. The alarms, beeps and chatter of a hospital aren’t just uncomfortable for patients and staff: the noise can undermine safety and health. One report by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses found that from 72% to 99% of all hospital alarms were false. At just one hospital – Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland – there is an average of 350 alarms per patient per day. Steve talks of ambient musician Yoko Sen who, after an unsettling hospital stay, founded a start-up that creates more pleasing sounds for medical devices and the work of famed composer and U2 Producer, Brian Eno who produced two pieces of light installation art designed to relax patients at The Montefiore Hospital in Hove. Pandora is a leading music and podcast discovery platform, providing a highly-personalized listening experience to approximately 70 million users each month. As the largest streaming music provider in the U.S., with an industry-leading digital audio advertising platform, Pandora connects listeners with the audio entertainment they love. Pandora is a subsidiary of Sirius XM Holdings Inc.. Together, Pandora and SiriusXM have created the world's largest audio entertainment company.

Together, building and construction are responsible for 39% of all carbon emissions in the world, and alongside air traffic and road traffic, construction is one of the biggest sources of noise pollution.  Does it have to be this way? One man who believes construction could be quieter and more sustainable, and whose company is determined to make it so, is Kiss House Co-Founder, Mike Jacob; our guest on Episode 8 of The Quiet Mark Podcast. Kiss House’s motto is simple. Build Better. Live Better.  In 2018 The World Health Organization calculated that at least 1m healthy life-years are lost every year in western European countries because of environmental noise, with cardiovascular disease contributing to the vast majority of these deaths, especially high blood pressure, heart attacks and coronary heart disease. It is thought that noise triggers the release of the stress hormone cortisol, which damages blood vessels over time.  A wave of silence has spread across the planet as man-made noise fell by 50% during worldwide coronavirus lockdowns. Does a return to a new normality necessarily have to bring with it a return to pre-lockdown volume levels?  Air traffic has reduced with less vacation travel and global business meetings increasingly taking place on Zoom and other video call platforms.   With companies such as Google telling employees to stay home until summer 2021, and Twitter announcing that employees could work from home indefinitely, comes a significant reduction in road traffic, with vast numbers of people no longer doing the daily commute. But what about noise from construction? The number of new homes registered to be built per annum in the UK has risen by more than 80 per cent over the last decade. Ground-working is an especially noisy process, but could much of that be carried out in remote factories, away from neighbourhoods?  Mike discusses this and more with our host, Simon Gosling, explaining the path that lead to Kiss House and their work to disrupt the future of construction, transforming the lives of occupants, for the better.

In Episode 7, Pt.3 of The Quiet Mark Podcast, introducing our audio resource book for architects, Simon Gosling enjoys a conversation with Oliver Brookes, an Architect with Cambridge based BB&C Architects, who turned to the Quiet Mark certified, Armourcoat's acoustic plaster system, for a much needed solution when creating a music listening room within this beautiful domestic home: https://www.bbcarchitects.co.uk/projects/domestic/modern-house/ BB&C Architects Limited, set up in 1983, is a RIBA Chartered Practice based in Cambridge operating from riverside studios on Bridge Street overlooking the Cam. They work with a wide range of clients and produce diverse architectural solutions within collegiate, university, housing, health, ecclesiastical, theatre, primary and secondary education sectors as well as master planning. Oliver Brookes is keen Architect, who has and continues to work on many prominent Projects in the heart of Cambridge. For a short period he worked in London on High rise accommodation projects for Broadway Malyan Architects. He moved to BB+C in 2015 to work for a smaller company and to be closer to home. Since being there he has completed two boathouses projects for both Gonville and Caius and Christ Colleges, in addition to this he worked closely with clients to redevelop a large 1930’s student hostel and building of local interest into a stunning, contemporary family home. Currently he is working on a refurbishment project for a grade one listed building at Queens College as well as a new complex on Round Church Street for Trinity College, comprising a 110 cover high end restaurant on the ground floor with four floors of student accommodation above. Armourcoat is a market leading manufacturer and specialist contractor of decorative surface finishes. The company has its UK head offices in Sevenoaks and has a wholly owned US subsidiary business based in Las Vegas. Developed over 30 years the company works with a network of agents and customers and enjoys product sales and installation into 80 countries. The UK business manages the manufacture of the wide product range, global distribution and technical support. It also runs a significant contracting business operating in the UK and Europe. With an outstanding and ever growing product range Armourcoat remain at the forefront of sustainable decorative surface solutions.  Armourcoat's acoustic plaster is listed within Quiet Mark's Acoustic Academy: a brand new, free to use online platform, designed to further equip and empower architects, builders and designers with a guide to expertly verified leading acoustic solutions for every building application area, including; approved specialist acoustic glazing, sound barriers, panels, pumps, acoustic doors, flooring, insulation, commercial ventilation, acoustic plasters and surfaces and much more.  Example building application areas include, residential, commercial, industrial, schools, offices, healthcare, hospitals, restaurants and public spaces. Poppy Szkiler, Founder and CEO, Quiet Mark says: “Acoustics Academy is our new online platform developed to serve the Building sector by further equipping and empowering industry to easily find the latest expert-approved acoustic materials, products and solutions organised in a one-stop online hub for the right building applications and scenarios. “Building design is now evolving to prioritise responsible sound-design transforming living spaces into harmonious soundscapes that deliver excellent acoustics to support health, well-being and desire for quieter living. A property that has been carefully designed acoustically creates a beautiful, calm, supportive environment, reducing unnecessary stress for all inhabitants for generations to come.”