Can Sound Designers Overcome the Popularity of the Mute Button? -Rob Ballingall

The ad industry should be well aware of the power of strong sound design. It’s a crucial tool for immersion, sets moods, guides scenes, and enhances audience engagement, all while amplifying a project’s memorability when done correctly. Talk about a vital responsibility!

Unfortunately, lately, it feels as though the fruits of sound are often too easily overlooked. Many audience members – especially those in the gen z demographic – have fallen in love with the mute button, opting to engage with content that is soundless and drip-fed to them in subtitles. This phenomenon has confused the industry – who wouldn’t want to watch something with sound on? – and has made the point of a project harder to communicate. Besides, the hard work of sound designers goes under-appreciated, brands don’t get their messages across as intended, and consumers don’t get to have an optimal viewing experience. It’s a lose-lose-lose scenario.

Here’s what Sonic Union’s sound designer Rob Ballingall had to say about it.

It’s incredibly difficult to remove myself from this equation because, as a sound designer and audiophile, I can’t imagine consuming content without sound. Watching something with the sound off means experiencing only half of the creative. However, I don’t believe gen z is to blame for the mute phenomenon – though they may perpetuate it.

In my opinion, the real culprit is the overwhelming flood of content designed for a never-ending scroll. TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts are engineered for quick consumption and near-subliminal engagement. They offer endless fragmented visuals, compelling users to hop from one piece of content to the next. This format has fostered a ‘grass is always greener’ attitude, where the next video is just a swipe away, and attention spans have nose-dived. Simply put, muted content is passive, while sound invites engagement, builds trust, adds personality, and makes an experience more memorable. Good content with substance, craft, and depth always stands out – particularly if it can engage with audiences fast enough.

Professionals in content creation and advertising fields are, I believe, already well aware of the emotional and immersive power of top-notch sound design and music; the problem is creating content that’s exciting and engaging enough within a one or two-second opportunity to hook the audience. I encourage creatives to consider this from conception and to educate the brands they are collaborating with on why sound is absolutely necessary. I also encourage creatives to look at audio-forward content, where the main objective is to get the audience to listen. I’ve done several projects with that as the sole purpose recently, including a Mercedes-AMG experience where the screen was totally black. Instead, the story was told entirely through sound. Another good example of this was the 2024 Sundance Film Festival ident I created. I built a soundscape without visual cues, which was reinforced with animation. There’s always a balance to be found.

Brands suffer an incredible impact from mute-by-default content, which is that visuals alone can rarely define the correct emotional tone for every viewer. Trust sells, so with a lack of emotional tone-setting, brands might see lower retention rates, a lack of loyalty, revenue streams they struggle to tap, specific demographics outside of their reach, and lower levels of upselling. Acknowledging generational finance shifts is important for brands to know their qualified customers. If brands want to build a relationship with today’s socially-conscious and more tactile audiences, they need to understand the need for sound to serve as a bridge to deeper connection.

For future generations, sound can be the spark that elevates a piece of content from the doom scroll. Sound can pull audiences out of their habits and into something more intentional. If we want to counter this trend of muted consumption, we need to think about designing for both audio and visual immersion. Create experiences where the sound is the catalyst for full engagement. Sound designers are in a prime position to guide this evolution by helping brands and creators craft experiences that are both visually and sonically enduring.