Julian Treasure: Why architects need to use their ears (TED)

This is an issue with a great deal of importance to me as my brain isn’t much help in separating ambient sound from the sound I’m focusing on. I’ve discussed this before in Does Anyone Understand Loudspeaker-speak?. I seek out quiet. I seek out audio clarity. Despite my efforts, I find myself soaked to the ears in ambient and reflected noise. We need to make sound absorbent materials much less expensive and more readily available — and get designers and architects to embrace them.