How Soundscapes Can Impact Our Mental Wellness

The use of sound to create an environment for relaxation and wellness is a concept that’s been around for a long time. These days it’s common for many to invest in technology like soundproofing, white noise machines, and powerful sound systems for an immersive experience.

More recently, the use of soundscapes has become popular for enhancing concentration, helping us fall asleep faster, or just as a form of temporary escape – all of which are particularly important for mental wellness during a pandemic where we’re stuck at home. Studios like local company GRYD specialise in constructing such soundscapes by recording specific environmental sounds and then layering them on top of each other.

“It’s similar to looking for a spot to take a photograph, but we’re taking an audio picture instead,” says Yen Yu Ting, the co-founder and Director of Sound at GRYD.Often, these are constructed to evoke a particular emotion or state of mind, much like a music track. We speak with him to find out more about how soundscapes enhance our wellness.

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What Are Soundscapes And How Can They Impact Our Mental Health?

Plenty of people use white noise to fall asleep or focus when doing work. What exactly is white noise and how does it affect us mentally?

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White noise is random noise across the human’s audible frequency (20Hz to 20kHz) at equal intensity, amplitude, and loudness.

Many people use white noise to block out a noisy environment at home or work. It works similar to eye masks for sleep; it’s a form of partial sensory deprivation that covers up aural distractions, helping some people to focus or fall asleep.

Every day we are bombarded with a lot of sensory information. While we are able to close our eyes or look away from a distraction, it is a lot more difficult to tune out auditory distractions. White noise is just one solution to that issue.

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Are soundscapes different from general white noise?

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Soundscapes are an aural representation of a space, whether the space might be a physical space or a mental space. Soundscapes are usually carefully created or recorded to serve a specific purpose, while white noise is more of a random noise across all frequencies, like fans, rain and air conditioners.

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Can soundscapes be used for wellness purposes, like meditation or better concentration?

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I believe it is possible to use soundscapes for wellness purposes. Personally, I use soundscapes and ambient sounds in place of white noise. There are experiments exploring how our body and mind respond to such soundscapes and the results have been positive.

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What other interesting uses can soundscapes have for individuals?

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I think that soundscapes have the ability to momentarily transport individuals to another space. If you’re on a drive home after a particularly stressful day, you could put on the sounds of the rainforest at dawn to cover up some of the noise from the traffic outside. If you miss the beach, and you’re stuck at home during this pandemic, you could put on the sound of waves and water and escape for a bit.

Of course all of these will not replace the experience of actually physically being there, but the mind is powerful enough to recollect some memories and imagine some new scenarios.

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Can you tell us more about what goes into constructing a soundscape?

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When I create a soundscape it usually begins with a description of the space or the world. Some common questions are “what time of the day is it?”, “what are the elements around us?”, “what emotions are we trying to convey?”.

Once we have the answers, we start planning for the different layers of sound we would need and start collecting them. Then we put the sounds together in various combinations to see what works and start iterating from there until we get to a place where we are happy with what we are hearing, making sure what we have created is still believable and fulfils the emotion we were going for.

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What equipment would you recommend for users who want to experience an immersive sound environment?

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As Dolby Atmos is gradually becoming more accessible, it would be most ideal to have a system that is able to playback that format, as it is a really amazing format for immersive sound. If that is too much of an investment, I would recommend having proper speakers that cover a large frequency range in a properly treated acoustic environment. At the bare minimum, I’d recommend a good pair of headphones to start with.

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Where can users download or stream soundscapes?

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Sound Effects by BBC is a really good resource to explore soundscapes. There’s a cool mixer feature that allows you to add various sounds from their extensive sound effects library to create your own soundscape.

There are also many soundscape albums on Spotify or Tidal. I recommend checking out Wild Echoes on Spotify. If you’re looking for sounds of Singapore I recommend you check out IX Sound for their high-quality sound libraries.

For more information, please visit www.gryd.studio.

Text: Melody Bay/Home & Decor

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What Are Soundscapes And How Can They Impact Our Mental Health?

Co-founder and Director of Sound at GRYD shares his insights on how soundscapes can help us achieve better mental health

Privacy Menu

What Are Soundscapes And How Can They Impact Our Mental Health?

Co-founder and Director of Sound at GRYD shares his insights on how soundscapes can help us achieve better mental health

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