Too much screen time we know is a problem.

Covid created more screen time as we went from zoom call to zoom call and more time on the couch with streaming visual content binging. Going from a working screen to an entertainment screen does create some well-being challenges.

Enter audio time.

After years of visual screen dominance, people started to find and enter a new era during Covid– the time with Sound.

Technology is a powerful enabler for this shift as it intensifies and diversifies how we listen.

Good sound quality triggers positive emotions. When your right moment, music is started at the right time and right place. Your life improves.

Your feelings change; you become uplifted or feel relaxed.

If you think of the opposite, what can happen if bad quality audio triggers negative emotions such as dissatisfaction, annoyance, or disappointment.

Despite a trend in visual and screen time where we can sacrifice quality for convenience, our audio behavior suggests quality matters very much.

I am seeing a growing demand for personalized audio experiences that are immersive, intimate, and fine-tuned by the listener.

Audio and Sound technology enhancements act as a catalyst for this change, offering people unlimited ways to experience Sound is a creative pallet to explore and is only just started.

Consider the explosive growth of podcasting over the last few years – the medium has firmly crossed into the mainstream as more than half of Americans and Australian’s over twelve years old have listened to one.

And then there is the rise of smart speakers, the fastest-growing tech sector in the United States and emerging in Australia. Nearly one-third of households have one audio streaming service, and almost every smart speaker owner has more than one device.

Who didn’t increase Sound and audio combined with a healthy walk in your Covid lockdown? More and more, produced audio is becoming an essential addition to our daily lives.

And as we enter a post-Covid reality, we are about to turn a corner into a sound-first era. Technology is fueling the audio revolution: it has unleashed the sound experience from any tether. Streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music mean that Sound is no longer dependent on a carrier medium or dedicated device. Instead, listening has become mobile and on-demand.

Like an invisible companion, Audio is no longer dependent on a carrier medium or dedicated device. Instead, listening has become mobile and on-demand. Sound accompanies us wherever we go, without interruption.

While audio quality continues to advance both in how it’s produced and delivered. The addition of 3D and surround sound technology will change the category even further.

Sound will accompany us like a kind of halo and open up new virtual spaces for listeners—the ability to combine listening to audio programming with virtual spaces for an entirely new experience.

While advances in mobile and streaming technology have been fundamental to shaping the listening experience of today, A.I. will open the next frontier of personalisation.

Consumers will be seeking audio programming that that can remember and adjust their listening preferences according to different environments.

From waking up, self-love rituals, exercise, entertainment, and downtime.

Audio with A.I. will allow for this level of personalisation, with content, tracks, and moods tailored precisely for each listener and acoustics that auto-adjust as you move through your day.

Sound and audio programming will increase and advance so much in the next decade because the experiential Sound delivered will see consumers’ time on the visual screen be reduced.

And that sounds very positive for our well-being.