Musician Yoko Sen Reimagines the Sounds of the End

What would you like to hear in your last moments? Maybe the ocean pounding the surf, the breeze rustling the leaves of a nearby tree, or perhaps the voice of someone you love. These “last sounds” inspire the work of Yoko Sen.

Musician Turned Patient

Born and raised in Japan and trained as a pianist from age three, the ambient electronic musician has composed, produced, and engineered soothing music for art galleries, airlines, and museums.

But her own hospital stay in 2012 inspired her to embark on a new mission. As she explained during a talk at the annual EndWell end-of-life conference in 2018, while she was sick, she spent hours and hours in hospitals.

She told Afterall, “As a person who does sound and music, I’m very sensitive to sound. All the noise in the hospital was very disturbing to me. After that experience, I became very curious about why things have to sound the way they are.”

‘Devil in Music’

Sen used as an example how a cardiac monitor plays a “C” note and a bed alarm an “F” sharp. In music theory, the two make a chord called a tritone, and in Medieval times was called “devil in music” because it was so unpleasant.

When she got well, Sen says she felt like she had a “lucky bonus” to do what she wanted.

She launched her company “Sen Sound” with a team that included her social scientist husband, “I started an initiative to start a music studio with a vision to transform the sound environment in hospitals. 

Today we work with hospitals and medical device companies to help them improve the ‘beeps’ coming out of those machines to be a little more holistic,” Sen explained. Sen expects one large medical device company will soon announce a change to the “beep” on one of their machines, among the biggest contributors to the noise issues in hospitals, making it less harsh.

Several studies show the harms of excessive noise on patients and staff, including creating stress, hearing loss, and “alarm fatigue,” Sen explains. 

The Problem with Buzzes and Beeps

Other research showed that the average patient hears 350 sounds a day, and most of the buzzes and beeps are clinically irrelevant or false positives. Sen says healthcare workers initially tell her they no longer notice the beeps, but on deeper reflection, they share with her that they “hear” the alarms at home in their sleep or in the shower.

Her team approaches the hospital soundscape from a more human-centered design perspective. They often consider “subtracting” sounds as much as adding more soothing sounds on top. Sen says they use a different lens when redesigning the audio experience.

Sen says that while sounds have been engineered to be audible and distinct, her studio also considers whether a tired nurse would want to hear them over and over during a long 12-hour shift.

Sen’s work also made her wonder, if hearing is the last sense to go, what would be the last sound people want to hear at the end of their lives? This was the genesis of her My Last Sound project.

The 3 Things Most People Want to Hear At Life’s End

Sen tells Afterall that there are three main categories of things people say they would like to hear at life’s end: the sounds of nature, the voice of a loved one, and, lastly, the sounds of life, like a baby crying or an orchestra tuning instruments.

In another project, Sen Sound created a tranquility room at a hospital to provide caregivers with an oasis where they could relax in a culture of quietness. “To promote a culture of quietness we have to care for people who care for others,” she said.

“The beauty of our sensory experience is what makes us human,” Sen said.

Learn more about Yoko Sen and the Sen Sound studio.