Last night, I arrived late (just before midnight) at the hotel I was staying, hence went straight to my room and got ready to go to sleep. After having tried to switch off the heating system that was way too noisy, I ended up calling reception and asking them to come and sort it out. Which thanks god they were successful at doing – even though it was not straight forward. I felt blessed and ready to finally go to sleep.

Hardly had I laid down in bed that I noticed a soft but continuous buzzing sound in the background. Too tired to go back to reception to get another room, I did have a go at trying to sleep, which I kinda managed. Let’s just say it was not a fantastic night. This did remind me not only about the importance of carrying with me earplugs, but also of the fact that we as human beings often have to resist sonic assaults. And that reminded me of two short videos that you can find on TED delivered by Julian Treasure.

The first one is about how sound affects us physiologically, psychologically, cognitively and behaviourally.

You might be surprised like me to find out that productivity decreases by as much as 66% in noisy open space.

The second video is about a few steps you can take to protect your hearing or at least reduce the impact of sonic assault on your health and develop a sound health approach.

So the question remains what will you choose to do?