Sounding off on Sound

When designing a space, you’re sure to account for sight and touch (likewise, when selecting products, we constantly consider how a material looks and feels). And our friends in hospitality take care of taste and smell— whether it’s chefs concocting tapas to enliven your palate or hotels wafting floral aromas to invite guests to relax. But has one of the senses gone unheard?

Acoustics are easy to overlook. “In many contexts, sound is used without thought,” said Martin Hallberg, creative director of Radja Sound Design Agency, which designs acoustic strategies for commercial spaces. “Instead, we should use sound as the magnificent tool it actually is and make demands on how we want both our environment and products to sound.”