Have you ever been in a restaurant or cafe and struggled to hear what your companion is saying because music or a television is blaring? Or been jolted into annoyance by the sound of a jarring ringtone? Or, on a happier note, maybe you felt calm and collected when a taxi driver played classical music on the radio instead of a station with jabbering news.
The sounds around us can inflame or soothe, so why not try to engineer a bit of soothing? You can’t do much about the music in a restaurant, but you can turn the dial on your radio, and you can pre-load your car stereo or phone with music that you enjoy.
And while you have the phone in your hand, set your ringtone and text alert sounds to something easy on the ear - it’s a small difference but it could put you, and the people within earshot, in a better frame of mind when a call comes through.