Although my blog contains a lot of silly stories and some interesting sounds, the underlying theme is to induce people to listen to the environment around them. I focus on natural sounds, both because I like them and because I think we are losing not only the sounds, but our ability to hear them. Our world has become so noisy that, for our own sanity, we turn off the noise by turning off our ears. In doing so, we miss many of the beautiful sounds around us, we miss the warnings that sounds provide us, and we lose the ability to communicate with each other.
I recently came across a video of a TED talk by Julian Treasure that summed up the same message in a wonderfully succinct and colorful way and I wanted to share the video with you.
Julian Treasure is founder and chairman of The Sound Agency, a consulting agency that helps business with the sounds of their brands. He also speaks and gives workshops on personal communication, conscious listening, and designing effective sound environments. You can find out more from his website at https://www.juliantreasure.com, or view some of his other TED talks:
How to speak so people want to listen
Other talks are available from the TED website.
I love his message of conscious listening (see also Bird Conversations); I think its vital for understanding each other and protecting the natural environment. We also need to be more aware of how our noise impacts those around us, and conscious listening is the first step.