In this special edition of the A Sound Effect on People podcast, we join Lauren Kruger and Dr Annemarie Lombard in South Africa and delve into the effect of our senses and so-called sensory intelligence in our daily life.
Click and listen
This episode gives an insight into how the sensory stimuli affect the way we act within our homes, workspaces, and even our relationships. The stimuli consist of visuals, sounds, touch, tastes, movement and body awareness. All of our senses have a large impact in the way we learn and focus.
Dr Lombard explains how she creates sensitivity profiles based on the human senses, and then advises on how to optimise for each of them in order to “improve quality of life”. Alongside this, she also discusses how behaviour and personality can contradict your sensory system; and therefore, we must make “small and practical changes” to align our spaces. One of these changes may be improving the acoustic environment; by focusing on their reaction to sound, we are able to maximise people’s outcome by utilising sound within a space.
Lauren discusses her view on this; highlighting how our lives are full of so much choice. When we become aware of the effect of sensory stimuli; we are then able to choose the way which we maximise our productivity. For example, if you have a low noise threshold it is likely that you cannot focus in areas which are noisy; it’s too distracting for you. Therefore you may wish to work within a quiet area in the office. Whereas if you have a high noise threshold you feel energised by sound; so you may prefer to work in a location with a constant buzz.
Dr Lombard proposes that applying sensory intelligence can help us to rethink the way we work, learn and live. Considering that our world is getting more complex by the day, with our senses being bombarded from all directions. Perhaps this overstimulation has affected our productivity more than we realise?
What’s your sensory intelligence?
Dr Lombard says that your sensory profile may not be obvious to you. However, once you do know, the changes you need to make to “align your spaces” will be very intuitive. To learn about your own reaction to sensory stimuli, why not complete this online test? It’s bound to get you thinking about your own behaviour and that of family, friends and colleagues around you!
To continue the discussion, Sensory Intelligence can be found on Twitter and Facebook.
