But as we have become more comfortable interacting with gadgets on a daily basis, our expectations for sound have also changed. Milton says that generally, people respond better to sounds that occur within the range of sounds humans can make through speech. In addition to developing alarm clock sounds for Virgin and Nokia back in the day, Listen occasionally uses them for internal sonic design exercises as a way to reimagine traditional noises. Milton’s firm is responsible for some of the tech industry’s most recognizable sounds, including the sparkly Tinder “match” jingle and Skype’s suite of sound effects. “There are certain harmonic, rhythmic, temporal qualities of sounds that, without a doubt, people innately and intuitively understand to mean something, by in large, across cultures.” “Sound in any way, shape, or form often provides emotional context,” Steve Milton, the founding partner at the sound branding studio Listen, told me when I recounted my moving alarm clock experience. Those early efforts were just as much about guiding users through their actions via skeuomorphic noises like crumpling paper as they were about branding a company with a signature reboot sound like the Mac’s. Since the early days of personal computing, technologists have worked to develop sound effects and jingles to give human context to static digital experiences. Arianna Huffington’s personal sleep blog) in a 2014 interview, the study suggested that “sensory input does create a physiologic response.” Meaning that, while there’s little more than anecdotal evidence that a nuclear-attack-esque alarm can harm you, you’re better off mood-wise not being jolted awake.īut a lack of solid scientific research has never stopped Silicon Valley from attempting to make something old new again. One 2003 study found that subjects who woke up to dawn-simulating light lamps experienced increased levels of cortisol - a steroid hormone that helps prepare your body for stress. There have been endless studies surrounding behavior that affects sleep and sleep cycles themselves, but the field of research correlating physical well-being to alarm clock sounds is essentially nonexistent. In this new medium, the strategies for waking up have multiplied, sometimes adopting gimmicky or cruel approaches in the search to answer the same questions: What’s the perfect sound, light, or smell to wake up to? Sure, morning alerts have taken many sonic forms over the course of human civilization, including rooster crows, ringing bells, and Sonny and Cher’s “ I Got You, Babe.” But as more Americans become loyal smartphone users - especially the kind that sleep next to their gadget each night - tangible alarm clocks have been replaced with apps that get creative with their morning racket. It was inevitable that, in an industry where improving sleep has become its own sub-economy, alarm clock sounds would get disrupted, too. The noise that greeted me every morning was no longer a utilitarian tool but, like most tech products these days, a product crafted to evoke feeling. And in the same way I had learned to loath that clamor as a kid, I had developed a fond emotional attachment to the calming tune in a little under two months. The tune - a ditty from iOS 10’s revamped Clock app titled “First Light” - was a far cry from the incessant beeping of my childhood digital alarm clock that still haunts me to this day. And then I realized what I was listening to: my alarm clock. Before I realized what was happening, I felt a Pavlovian inspiration to get out of my plane seat, make some tea, feed my cat, and read The New York Times. It began with a soft piano tinkle in my earbuds and grew into a warm, all-encompassing sonic blanket of positivity. Last month, I was listening to some sleepy music on an early-morning flight to California when suddenly my song was interrupted by a familiar tune.
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