Audio content gets your company's message across
Have you ever thought about what you use sound for? Sound content conveys emotions and you are understood, you can express yourself richly and enjoy the joy of sound in the form of music, for example. Sound warns and calms you down, it is used to tell stories and to entertain yourself.
The versatility of a voice comes from its ability to transform according to the situation, emotional state and speaker. Even though a written text conveys emotion to us, the same sentences are likely to be much more informative when spoken. When speaking, we can bring different nuances to the story more strongly with the accents and different tones of the voice and convey emotion to the listener in a completely different way. Still, the potential of sound has not been fully exploited – we want to change that!
Towards better performance with sound waves
Music improves performance in cognitive tasks, i.e. tasks that process human information. The most talked about phenomenon describing the effect of music on the mind is the Mozart effect. A series of studies conducted at the University of California aimed to find out whether classical music has intellect-stimulating effects. The test subjects were divided into three groups, the first of which listened to Mozart's piano sonata for 10 minutes, the second listened to a relaxation exercise, and the third was in silence before performing the test. Those who listened to Mozart's piano sonata improved their performance more than the other two groups that participated in the test. The Mozart effect increases the level of intelligence and alertness, but only momentarily improves a person's cognitive performance.
The same phenomenon has also been observed among the elderly. The performance of both healthy elderly people and elderly people with Alzheimer's disease improved when classical music was played during the task.
Audio content brings new kinds of opportunities
Audiobooks and podcasts have introduced the possibilities of spoken text in the hectic hustle and bustle of everyday life. Until now, however, sound has only been used on companies' websites mainly in combination with moving images. Now we want to harness the potential of sound to also apply to online content.
We all have moments when the possibilities for consuming online content are limited: maybe you're spending a sunny day outside, you just decided to go for a run, or you jump into your car for the driver's seat. Traditionally, websites have not been able to serve their visitors in such situations, as reading on a phone screen is not easy – or allowed.
Adding audio to your website makes it effortless to consume information, which is why the potential of audio to improve the customer experience is worth weighing. People need alternatives to consuming content, as the possibilities of consumption are very situational. By bringing the listening feature to your website, you can ensure that users are served in the best possible way. Then the user can choose whether they want to read or listen to the content. At the same time, you take special groups into account better.
Want to read more about what voice web pages mean in practice?