Is this acoustic engineering?

No. Julian works on the human side: what sound does to people, what a space or a brand should sound like, and how to brief the specialists who will build it. He works alongside acousticians rather than replacing them.

What size of project is worth a conversation?

Anything where sound will affect how people feel, think, buy or work, and where the decision hasn't yet been made.

Can Julian speak at our industry event?

Yes, and often that's the best place to start. Use the form below and say which event you have in mind.

For organisations

Most places are designed for the eyes alone.

We spend a fortune on how a building looks and almost nothing on how it sounds, and then wonder why nobody can think in it. Julian has spent three decades on the effects of sound on human beings, from open-plan offices to hospital wards to the tone a brand makes when a customer is put on hold.

This is the work behind Sound Business and Sound Affects, brought to a specific problem.

Start a conversation See the keynote

Three ways this works

Speaking

Designing with the ears

The keynote for architects, designers, developers and the audio industry: why almost every building is designed as if sound didn't exist, and what changes when it isn't.

See the talk

Consultancy

Advice on the sound of a place or a brand

Bringing three decades of work on acoustics, audio branding and the effects of sound on people to a specific project, a product line or a brand's sonic identity.

Content partnerships

Julian's name and voice on your thinking

Co-authored research, films, white papers and campaigns for organisations whose business depends on people understanding sound.

Who this is for

Architecture and interior design

Offices, schools, hospitals, restaurants and public spaces, where the acoustic decision is usually made last and felt first.

Property and workplace

Owners and occupiers who have discovered that an open-plan office can cost up to two-thirds of the productivity it was meant to create.

Audio, acoustics and pro-AV

Manufacturers and specifiers who need their market to understand why any of this matters.

Brands and agencies

Organisations whose sound, from a call centre hold tone to a product's start-up chime, is saying something they never chose.

Clients

Frames from films Julian has made with clients.

Julian Treasure speaking to camera in a cream jacket against a blue wall — Soundcloud

Julian Treasure speaking to camera beside a title card reading Aesthetics vs Acoustics — Eleganza

Julian Treasure talking in a park, with Dutch subtitles across the frame — OMS

Julian Treasure in conversation on a sofa in a studio at Metropolis — Audeze

Julian Treasure seated on a stool in a film studio, with lights and a plant either side — Audiologic

Why it pays

The return on good sound is huge. Sound affects us in four ways, all the time and mostly below conscious awareness: physiologically, psychologically, cognitively and behaviourally. Productivity in open-plan offices can drop by as much as two-thirds when people try to work amid other people's conversations, and copious evidence shows office noise harms staff wellbeing by creating stress and fatigue. The cost of fixing this global but largely unnoticed blight with acoustic treatments is usually a tiny fraction of the annual cost of the problem.

Sound quality also matters. Many retail and hospitality spaces impose low-quality sound on the people using them, because sound equipment is often the victim of 'value engineering' by people who simply don't understand the power of sound.

Julian creates talks, films and documents to help companies selling sound-based products persuade their customers that investing in quality sound is important and profitable.