We live surrounded by sounds including both those created by people and those of the natural world.
The buzz of an alarm clock, ringtone of a mobile phone, whistle of a bird, voice of a TV announcer, happy voices of children, and a flood of other sounds and voices enter our ears.
But what would you do if suddenly you couldn't hear familiar voices and sounds anymore?
In 2011, I was involved in the research & development of a speaker as a new project in my previous employment, when I made a stunning discovery that changed the course of rest of my life.
It was an awareness that I “take it for granted that I can hear”.
My father had hearing difficulty, which had no little impact on that realization.
Although my dream to commercialize the development ended, I later started up NPO Universal Sound Design Association with my peers, to launch full-scale research & development on human hearing and audio technology.
I constantly keep thinking about “how to design sounds and noises that exist in this world”.
The sounds and noises we hear everyday are invisible.
Because they are invisible, many people may “just hear sounds that enter their ears without thinking”.
However, our hearing function may diminish unless we have consciousness of sounds. “We hear sounds that we want to hear”.
If we consciously incorporate this idea into everyday life,it will make a wonderful difference in our life.
Precisely because we live in a time when sounds “are all too ignored” compared to the past,I wanted to manufacture things that inspire us to “listen to the music, and hear people's voices”.
This was the inspiration that motivated me to start up Universal Sound Design Inc. Products of Universal Sound Design are designed according to the concept of “playing sounds that resonate in the heart and heal people”.
However, the most important thing for us is to “create beloved products” that people “can use for a long time by having them mended”, rather than home appliances and other products that become obsolete over time.
I believe the human voice, as well as music played by artists, has a wonderful power to “cheer people up or make them smile”.
We will continue to manufacture products that sincerely aim to “convey the magical power present in sound” without destroying the values of the music and voices.
President & CEO
Shinichiro Nakaishi