good acoustics

When it comes to communicating effectively, I think the idea of acoustics is just as important in the virtual or theoretical sense as it is in the physical world.

In the world of architecture and space design, acoustic engineering is concerned primarily with three things:

1. Reducing noise
2. Increasing clarity
3. Controlling ambience

These three elements are just as important to consider when we’re engineering a virtual context in which we plan to communicate something of value as they are when designing a concert hall.

We’ll dive into how each one might apply to our digital communications in the next few days.

reduce the noise

The first aspect of engineering good acoustics is to reduce noise.

This is pretty self-explanatory. Noise is extra sound which detracts from and lowers the impact of the sound you want to be heard.

The internet is full of “noise.”

So, in what ways are you engineering the environment in which your content exists that reduces that constant noise as much as possible?

increase clarity

Principle #2 of good acoustics: increase clarity

Once we have minimized distracting external noise, we can focus on making sure that the sound or message that we want to get across is as clear as possible.

Clarity of sound in a physical space involves maximizing the amount of direct sound from the source to the hearer and minimizing sound reflected from the environment.

In the context of media communications, we might translate this principle to something like:

Reflected sound is not all bad though. When controlled and used properly, it becomes the central ingredient in the third principle of acoustics, ambience.

More on that tomorrow.

controlling ambience

Our final element of good acoustic engineering is ambience.

Ambience has to do with how much reverberated sound is desired within a space to create a specific effect.

For example, in a concert hall, reverberation after the music has finished is considered “resonance” and is often desirable for creating mood.

On the other hand, in a theater, where the clarity of spoken words is the most important thing, reverberation becomes an obstacle to intelligibility and is typically suppressed as much as possible.

This battle between clarity of expression and creation of mood creates a tug-of-war which can only be determined by deciding the ultimate goal or purpose of the space and the sound to be presented in it.

So what’s the point?

The next time you go to post something online, ask yourself:

“Am I trying to convey information, or emotion?”

Most likely, the more you succeed at one, the less you will succeed at the other.

acoustics vs amplification

One final note related to last week’s discussion about good acoustics.

Notice that none of the qualities of acoustics (reduced noise, increased clarity, and controlled ambience) has anything to do with loudness.

Loudness, how far a sound is able to reach, is an inherent quality of the sound itself as it is produced by the source (speaker, instrument, etc). Loudness can only be increased by changing the intensity of sound as it is produced from the source directly, or through amplification, i.e. artificial signal boosting.

But here’s the rub: ultimately, amplification will always work against each of the principles of good acoustics.

When pushed to a certain limit, amplification results in increased noise, decreased clarity (known as “clipping”), and unintended repetitive sound (i.e. a feedback loop).

This principle, too, can be quite helpful when thinking about content marketing.

If you’re artificially maximizing content volume for the sole purpose of extended reach, you just might be degrading the quality of your message at the same time.

DIY: reduce the noise

In the next few days I want to consider some practical ways to apply the principles of ​good acoustics​ that will hopefully give you some ideas that you can use to start curating your current content.

First up: ​reduce the noise​.

Consider all the places where you have content posted.

Now consider what other content surrounds yours. Is it a social media feed with a mix of individuals and businesses posting? A video platform with suggestions in the sidebar? A community bulletin board?

How many external voices or otherwise irrelevant messages are competing for yours?

What can you do to reduce the noise?

DIY: increase clarity

Clarity is about getting out of your own way when it comes to messaging. Only saying what’s necessary to be understood.

Take a look at your current messaging across various platforms and mediums. Where is there unnecessary repetition? Or, more importantly, where is there inconsistent repetition?

Obviously repetition is an important part of branding, but inconsistencies or overuse can create confusion and weaken the overall perception.

Ideally, your messaging should be repeated as much as is necessary to be effective, but as little as possible.

~ ~ ~

P.S. There may be a few strategic exceptions where repetition can in fact improve clarity, but that’s a topic for a different day.

the effect of ambience

When people look at your content, what do you want the effect to be?

Should they learn something new? Can they use that new information? Can they use it right away?

Maybe you want them to feel differently than they did before? Will they feel differently towards you? Towards themselves? Toward something else?

Think about how you can modify the context or form of your content to match your desired effect. In other words, how can you control the ambience?

It might be as simple as adding a picture to a blog post to create a little bit of emotional attachment.

Or removing a picture from a blog post to make an important piece of information easier to find and understand.

Which of those is the right answer will depend on how you answered the first question, “what do you want the effect to be?”

But if you never answer that question, then there is no right answer.