Sounds and noise

I’ve been sick this week and caring for two sick kids. We don’t have Covid-19, that’s official, but we do have runny noses and sneezes and coughs. Lying on the bed in my drugged-up headachy state this morning, sounds seemed more prominent. Kinda irritating. The birds outside, the kids stomping through the house, even the whir of the coffee machine didn’t deliver the usual dose of serotonin but instead, a cringe creased my face. Too much noise. 

When do sounds become noise? I wondered.

I recalled back in 2018, I ran an event where Prof Larry Chu, Executive Director of Stanford Medicine X, was speaking. If you haven’t heard of Medicine X it’s worth a look, they do amazing stuff around healthcare innovation. 

In his talk, Larry spoke about hiring an Artist in Residence, Yoko Sen. Obviously, there was some confusion and skepticism around what value an artist could bring to a medical and research facility. At the end of her first year, Yoko Sen created this:

She had spent the year talking to patients and healthcare workers, asking them about sound in places like palliative care and the pediatric ward. What is the last sound you would wish to hear in your life? What are the first sounds you hear? 

Yoko Sen has continued to explore the soundscape of hospitals and their impacts on human wellbeing. I've absolutely loved revisiting her work and seeing how it has progressed.

Now, the sounds of birds in the backyard and the kids playing don't seem so frustrating to my clogged up head. When given the choice of sounds people would like to hear on their deathbed these ranked pretty high. I'm far from being on my deathbed but this memory put things in perspective for me today. Now time for another steaming cup of honey, ginger, lemon tea.