In a noisy world, designing quiet into communal areas is an important way of creating shared spaces that are welcoming, healthy and inclusive

If you’ve ever experienced peace when listening to birdsong or felt driven to distraction by noisy neighbours, you’re probably familiar with the connection between sound and wellbeing. Yet the importance of this invisible but impactful feature of life is easily overlooked.

During the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, the widespread social changes brought about by lockdown rules led to reductions in seismic noise (the sound vibrations in the earth generated by human activity) of up to 50 per cent. For those used to living or working in busy environments, this break from the norm offered an insight into just how much noise they’d been living with in their everyday routine. For some, it led to a renewed appreciation of quiet spaces. For others, especially those with a professional interest, such as planners and architects, it also provided an opportunity to consider how the management of sound in buildings is used to promote wellbeing and whether it could be achieved more effectively.

Worlds of peace

It’s common to imagine that quiet always equals good and noise always equals bad, but the relationship between sound and wellbeing is nuanced and complicated. Everyone’s different – while some might embrace the sound of silence, for others it will be anathema. Someone whose work recognises the validity of both, as well as the parameters set by the modern world, is Poppy Szkiler, co-founder and chief executive of Quiet Mark, a public health-linked certification programme that identifies the quietest products in many categories, from home appliances to building materials. An expert in the healing power of sound in the home, Poppy says: ‘We can find treasure in quietness. The digital age has pushed us away from what our physical bodies were designed to cope with. We need to reconsider the value of quietness as something to weave back into our lives.’