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  3. Using biophilic design to heal body, mind, and soul
  4. Why noise is bad for your health — and what you can do about it
  5. Why it's so hard to make healthy decisions
  6. How one musician is reimagining hospital sounds
  7. How health is threatened by hate

In a Nutshell

As a musician, performer, and patient, Yoko Sen's sensitivity to sound has inspired her to create a more soothing, healthier auditory experience in hospitals and health care environments.

About Yoko

Yoko K. Sen is an ambient electronic musician who is reimagining the sound experience in hospitals. Yoko had enjoyed years of success as a composer, engineer, and performer of ambient electronic music all around the world before health complications in 2014 required her to spend time in the hospital. While there, she was deeply disturbed by the noises she heard, and her experience made her realize the impact of sound on wellbeing and dignity. In the years that followed, Yoko was inspired to found Sen Sound, a social enterprise that aims to transform the soundscape in hospitals. Yoko has been a fellow at Halcyon Incubator, and she has served as an artist-in-residence at Johns Hopkins Sibley Innovation Hub and Stanford MedicineX. Her initiative, My Last Sound, was selected as a Top Idea by Open IDEO’s End of Life challenge.

Learn More

“How Redesigning The Abrasive Alarms Of Hospital Soundscapes Can Save Lives.” Fast Company. 2017.

“This musician is redesigning the future of healthcare with sound.” Circa.com. 2016.

Cultivating well being

What color is happiness? What sound does the color blue make? What does the musical note C feel like?

Our well being is impacted more than we realize,  positively and negatively, by many invisible or subtle  factors around us. Our environment is very important to our overall well being. The effect, positive or negative,  of

  • Sound
  • Color
  • Design
  • Aromas

all play a part in our comfort within the spaces we live and work.

Health has expanded to encompass many more non-traditional practices. As we look beyond the physical self to the environment around us, we find there are many elements that influence our well being, such as sights, sounds, aromas and emotions that influence our health. Does baroque music energize us? Do we feel warmer in a green room?

Our  Speakers ask us to explore our relationship with sights, sounds, smells and emotions, and how they move us towards or away from improved health.