Skip to content

What Will the Office of the Future Sound Like?

Picture of In-Tune Team

This is a neat article from Inc., touching on new technology that uses music to affect productivity.  This is related to our workshop concept at In-Tune Teambuilding. 

"Immersive sound is far more involved than pressing play on a speaker. And, as it turns out, it might also help boost your productivity."

This is related to our workshop concept at In-Tune Teambuilding.  We're not talking about sophisticated algorithms to enhance productivity in your open-plan workplace.  We are talking about spending a day with your team, challenging yourselves and learning a new task.  Thinking critically, differently, combining individual skills with a group effort.  And we follow the science that music (both listening and playing) is therapeutic. 

From the article: "A welcome ambience might incorporate wind-related sound along with synthesizer pads/arpeggios, which may be geared toward lobbies as they can spark warmth and feelings of connection.

A more focus-oriented ambience, rather, may be heavy with acoustic instruments, while also tying in the sounds of running water, wind, and bird song, and human-generated sounds as well. The focus ambience may boost productivity, and is built for use in quieter working spaces. 

Science backs that up. An April 2015 study from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute suggests that natural sounds can enhance cognitive function and improve the ability to concentrate. Prior studies conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois show that the right level of ambient noise can aid work performance. 

Spending time in nature or looking at nature has a calming effect on the brain,  reducing stress responses and increasing immune function, according to David Rock, a neuroscientist and CEO of the NYC-based consulting firm NeuroLeadership Institute. 

And overall sound definitely has an impact on the brain, though a large chunk of that is mostly unconscious, he added."