SONIC
EXPERIENCE
DESIGN

Making brands, products, and spaces accessible.
We work with people experiencing disabilities to identify where sound helps or gets in the way of them using your products, services, and spaces.

Services

Accessible

BRANDS

A vibrant market.
Waiting to discover you.

$645B



Spending power of adults with disability in the US.4

63%



People who said a brand's efforts to be accessible would influence their purchase decisions.3

Be accessible at every brand touchpoint

Know how your sound helps or gets in the way of experiencing your communication, products, and spaces.



Match the tone of your sonic logo, voice, and music to different situations and people's needs with sonic profiles.



Keep your agencies on track with your sonic style guide.

Accessible

PRODUCTS

Assistive sound design™

Deliver critical information to people with cognitive, sensory, sight, and hearing disabilities with in-app sounds, voice, and vibration.

Transcend language, using these powerful memory triggers and shortcuts to the brain so everyone can navigate your products and services. Effortlessly.

Designing assistive sound.

TRANSIT

Help people get to where they need to go, with information when they need it, how they need it. From audio icons in your app telling people their fare recharge worked to clear audio narration for people who are blind.

Solutions

TELEHEALTH

Use in-app sounds and voice to guide people through your app and help them communicate their feelings faster and more accurately.

Case study

SITUATIONAL ACCESSIBILITY

Accessibility that moves with people.

Different situations change people's accessibility needs. Uncover these to build apps they can personalize on the go.

The video chat software couldn't deal with background noise. The audio quality was terrible. So we changed apps.

Service providers.

Before you buy that product, do a situational accessibility test so you can specify assistive technology that works where your clients use it and implement the necessary systems for a seamless experience.

Read why in this case study

UX designers.

People with disabilities are on the move.

We accompany people as they use your apps in different situations. Identify how these situations affect your technology. And what features people need on hand to understand and navigate changing sonic conditions. Fast.

SOLUTIONS



Find out what gets in people's way and
what will help them find their way.
Get started
Learn more

Accessible

SPACES

The disabling experience of noise in spaces.

Noisy spaces make it hard for customers with sensory, cognitive, sight, and hearing disabilities to use devices, keep up with information and find their way around.

For some, the noise is just too much. So they just don't come.

TERMINALS

Clashing announcements, echoey areas, distorted speakers. Manage the sounds preventing disabled people from using your spaces.

Airports
Train stations

HOSPITALS

Accelerate recovery and increase staff well-being and patient satisfaction with sonic environments that reduce anxiety and fatigue. So everyone gets the care you want them to have.

Get in touch

Designing a new space?

70%


of disabilities are invisible.2

Accessibility is more than ramps and elevators.

Be fully accessible. To everyone.

Talk to us about how to make it easy for people to get to, be in and find their way around your malls, offices, and facilities.

Get in touch

Sonic experience maps

Eliminate nasty surprises and stress. People sensitive to sounds can prepare for noisy environments by listening to audio maps of airports, malls, and stations.

Get started

About

Sound changes everything™

Transform feelings, behavior, and wellbeing
Stir memories . Build belief and recognition
Ignite action . Bring people together
Twenty years ago, Marcel began working with young people in the vibrant multicultural suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, collaborating, understanding, and changing systems affecting their lives.

He then worked with Government, cultural institutions, and brands. Using interactive experiences, sonic branding strategy, spatial sound, and music to change people's behavior, mood, and perception of brands and environments.

Coming full circle — he combines his social sciences background with interaction and sonic experience design to make it easier for people experiencing disability to express themselves, use your products, services, and spaces, and connect with your brand.

Our process.

1




Focus on people's goals, not their disability.
Ask, "What gets in their way?"

2




Map your customer journey.
Ask, "What helps you find your way?"

3




Test . Measure
Decide

Solve complex human problems with systems thinking & design.

Solutions look great on paper and at the demo. Then, everything changes in real life.

That's why we look at your customer journey.
How your environments, systems, technology, and information influence each other and affect the audio experience of your devices and spaces. And when this gets in the way of people with disabilities.

So you can pinpoint the real reasons why your experiences won't work for people with disabilities and the best tools to change this.
Information
Environments
Systems
Technology

"Hey Marcel, it looks and IS amazing, everyone loves it!!''

Jacelyn Hawkins . Flock Agency.

Squeeze Me Lightly for Prada at the Sunglass Hut Summit.

"In a world not designed by them, Marcel creates platforms with people with disabilities so they can design their own experiences."

Carmen Madisson . Boilover Inclusive Performance Ensemble. Sunbury Cobaw Community Health.

Accessible Teleconferencing

"Not only did Marcel break down what was working and not working in terms of interfaces and the responsiveness and character of sounds, he explored how they hindered or helped them achieve their goals."

Wendy O'Neil . Art Centre, Melbourne.

Sound expression. Designing accessible music interfaces for people with disability.

"Marcel was indispensable to us and the success of the project, with that rare combination of practical know-how, a hard-work ethic, and inspired creative vision.''

Brian Rupp . Brand Timbre & Rumblefish. [USA]

The Academy @ NAB

Speaking & workshops

World Music Therapy Congress . Japan

Sound Design — Designing Interactive Music Interfaces for Disabilities

Cato Brand Partners

Holistic Sonic Branding

National Australia Bank . Clemenger BBDO

Brand Identity workshops

RMIT University . College of Design and Social Context. School of Fashion & Textiles

Designers on the extreme guest series

Microsoft . The Garage

Curiosity, Empathy & Meaning: Human-Centred Sound Design for Accessible Products Workshop

BVN Architecture

Interactive spatial sound design in built environments

Latrobe University

Guest lecturer - Sonic Branding

Artcenter College of Design . California

Industrial design for Accessibility

Awards

O1-B VISA

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Individuals with an extraordinary ability in the arts or extraordinary achievement in motion picture or television industry.

High commendation

World Architecture Festival. Interior and Fitout. 2010

Winner

Council of Educational Facilities Planners Victorian Chapter. Award for Education Initiative. 2010

Commendation

Interior Design Awards. Corporate Design. 2010

Commendation

Council of Educational Facilities Planners. Australasia Chapter Educational Facilities Awards. ‘Education Initiative/Design Solution for an Innovative Program’. 2010

Winner

Permanent Exhibition or Gallery Fitout. MAGNA. 2017

Winner

Museums Australia (Victoria) Award for Large Museums. 2017

Best in category

Premiers Design Awards. Communications design. 2017

Press

Brandchannel.com

India Turns Up the Volume on Sonic Branding — Khicha, Preethi.

The Economic Times

Surround Sound: Advertisers Play Right Notes To Woo Customers

AV Magazine

Sonic Branding for the NAB

LSN: Global

Synaesthetic selling

The Future Lab Trend Briefing

The Tomorrow Store

Special World: for special education teachers, therapists, and schools everywhere

Note Perfect

Ragtrader

The New Rules . Music and Fashion Combine

Australian Creative

The Amber Theatre joins forces with Where Lovers Lie in a unique fashion creation

The Age

Zany Stunts with the office cutie — Christofis, Lee

Popular Music as Promotion: Music and Branding in the Digital Age

Leslie M. Meier

Ticker news

Making the world sound more accessible

Speaking . Workshops . Press
Get in touch

Contact

Now based in America.
Marcel de Bie
Marcel de Bie
+1 310 270 8012
marcel@marceldebie.com
Sign up for news and tips to make your brand, products and spaces accessible with sound.