Sonos Brilliant Sound Research

In 2019 Sonos, working with its partner M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment, commissioned a number of pieces of original research focussing on the positive impact that high quality sound can have on peoples’ day to day lives. This included investigations into areas including stress relief, social experiences, connections within  families and across generations, and impact on exercise performance.

Working with M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment New York, Sport Science Agency developed original research to explore the impact that high quality sound can have during exercise.

Research results

2%
increase in power output

3.5%
increase in heart rate

26%
increase in positive feeling

method

The study was conducted over three consecutive days with 35 participants. Each participant was asked to take part in one day of testing lasting 2.5 hours. During the session, each individual took part in a 5-minute warm up followed by three 10-minute High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) sessions. The aim was to complete as many repetitions of six repeating exercises as possible during the ten minutes. Participant’s heart rate(bpm) and power output (Watts) was measured for each of the six exercises. Immediately following each 10 minute interval Borg’s rating of perceived exertion was completed by each participant, which gave a measure of how hard the participant felt the exercise was. 

Each interval was undertaken in a different sound environment; high quality sound, low quality sound, and no music, and the order of the sound environments was changed each day. 

During the high and low quality sound environments the same playlist was used at the same decibel level.

The sessions were led by a fitness instructor who was supported by two investigators from Sport Science Agency.

THE RESULTS

The results showed that exercise power output, average heart rate and ability to work hard were all higher during the high quality sound sessions compared to the low quality sound sessions. Interestingly, participants were able to work harder in the high quality sound environment without feeling it was any harder.  A significant finding for SONOS.

Conclusion

The research findings showed that participants exercising while listening to high quality sound were able to get more out of their session without it feeling any harder.

OUTPUT

The research findings became a report that was submitted to Sonos and M&C Saatchi New York and became part of a co-ordinated PR campaign which generated coverage in a range of publications including Fortune, Fast Company and Men’s Journal.