THE lilt of bird song, the buzz of summer insects and the gurgling of streams
are all being harnessed to soothe stressed air travellers at Britain鈥檚 major
airports.
British Airways is testing these natural sounds鈥攎erged with specially
composed music鈥攊n executive lounges at Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester
airports, to see if they relax tired and stressed travellers as they wait for
their flights.
The sounds have been processed and mixed in an attempt to evoke the ambience
of a meadow on a sunny day. Fifty sets of strategically placed stereo speakers
are used to generate a 鈥渟ound image鈥�.
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BA says travellers have complained that its lounges are merely 鈥渟tuffy,
functional waiting rooms鈥� which offer them no personal space. A BA spokesman
says the company aims to 鈥渂ring the outside inside鈥�.
The airline hired the Japanese company TOA to build the sound system, which
creates an ambience so subtle as to be almost subliminal. 鈥淵ou may not take any
notice of the sounds鈥攜ou hear it but you don鈥檛 hear it,鈥� says Brett
Downing, director of TOA鈥檚 British arm. 鈥淏ut there are things like duck calls at
specific times of day.鈥�
Ironically, for a system designed to calm, the material was assembled by
Brian Robertson, formerly guitarist with the 1970s heavy metal band Thin Lizzy.
Robertson and his partner at Yodel Studios in Brentwood, Essex, Rob Jeffries,
were brought in after BBC sound effects recordings of bird song were deemed 鈥渢oo
boring鈥�. The pair recorded the dawn chorus, streams and the ambient sound of
meadows on digital audio tape for transfer to CD. The TOA system employs a
computer-controlled CD jukebox that schedules the sounds and music.
As long ago as 1975 psychologists showed that quiet music, with a slow rhythm
and no sudden harmonic changes, can reduce the aggression of a person who has
been insulted. But Peter Simpson, a psychologist at the University of Surrey in
Guildford, wonders whether adding natural sounds can help further: 鈥淭he idea
must be based on the notion that the sounds of nature are by definition calming.
Listening to bird song might be effective because it will attract the
attention鈥攕pot the woodpecker, that kind of thing. But why would the
waterfall be calming without the physical coolness, breeze and maybe negative
颈辞苍蝉?鈥�