TEDMED | How one musician is reimagining hospital sounds @TEDMED | Uploaded May 2019 | Updated October 2024, 1 day ago.
From the beep of cardiac monitors to the blare of alarms, hospitals are often jarring places to be from an auditory perspective. And for patients, the combined dissonant sounds can become overwhelming and even run antithetical to the healing process.
Yoko K. Sen, an ambient electronic musician, took an interest in the sound of hospitals after a period of being in and out of the hospital herself. As a patient, she was distressed by the loud and cacophonous noises she heard, and she felt as though these sounds were amplifying her feelings of fear and loss of agency. After regaining her health, she decided to dedicate her career to better understanding how sound impacts our emotions and to transforming the sound environment of hospitals. Tune in to Yoko’s 2018 TEDMED Talk to hear how she’s redesigning hospital sounds with the help and perspective of patients and clinicians who hear them every day.
From the beep of cardiac monitors to the blare of alarms, hospitals are often jarring places to be from an auditory perspective. And for patients, the combined dissonant sounds can become overwhelming and even run antithetical to the healing process.
Yoko K. Sen, an ambient electronic musician, took an interest in the sound of hospitals after a period of being in and out of the hospital herself. As a patient, she was distressed by the loud and cacophonous noises she heard, and she felt as though these sounds were amplifying her feelings of fear and loss of agency. After regaining her health, she decided to dedicate her career to better understanding how sound impacts our emotions and to transforming the sound environment of hospitals. Tune in to Yoko’s 2018 TEDMED Talk to hear how she’s redesigning hospital sounds with the help and perspective of patients and clinicians who hear them every day.
