▸ Sonic UX Research Consultancy · Dr. KC Collins

Evidence you can put in front of stakeholders.

Most sound decisions get made on taste and defended on confidence. These engagements replace that with data: controlled studies, validated instruments, and findings written so a product team can act on them and a sceptical VP can interrogate them.

The work is adapted from methods developed and tested in a university lab, which means the design is rigorous enough to publish and the timeline is short enough to ship against.

Book a 20-minute call Browse the Methods toolkit
00:00 ENGAGEMENTS02:10 HOW IT RUNS03:40 CONFIDENTIALITY04:50 START
TRK 01

Engagements

What you can buy

Each of these is a defined piece of work with a deliverable at the end, not an open-ended retainer. Scope moves — a study with three conditions costs more than a study with two — but the shape stays the same, so you can budget from this page rather than from a discovery call. Anything here can be combined, and most engagements start with an audit because it is the cheapest way to find out whether the expensive study is worth running.

E-01

Product sound audit

A structured review of the sound your product already makes: what is carrying information, what is decoration, what will fatigue a user by week three, and where the same cue means two different things. Benchmarked against comparable products and against what the evidence says about attention, learning, and annoyance.

You get a written review, a prioritised list of changes, and a working session to walk the team through it.

2–3 weeks
E-02

Comparative listening study

A controlled study with real users, comparing two or more sonic directions on perception, emotional response, and behaviour. Designed to the standard you would need to publish it, which is also the standard you need to survive a stakeholder who does not want to hear the answer.

You get study design and protocol, recruitment and data collection, analysis, and a report written for decision-makers with the statistics in an appendix.

5–8 weeks
E-03

Sonic strategy & audio identity

Turning brand attributes into a coherent sound system across every touchpoint — interface cues, notifications, hardware, brand mnemonic — and, critically, the evidence for why those choices and not the ones the agency pitched. I can work with your sound designer, or subcontract to people I've worked with before. Includes the rules a future team needs to extend the system without breaking it.

You get a documented sonic system, the rationale, and the guidelines to maintain it.

10+ weeks
E-04

Research translation

You have a specific question about sound and there is a literature on it that nobody on your team has time to read. I read it, weigh the quality of the evidence, tell you where the field genuinely disagrees, and write it up as something a product team can act on rather than a bibliography.

You get a white paper or internal briefing, plus a session to take questions.

2–4 weeks
E-05

Workshops & team training

Hands-on sessions for UX, design, and audio teams: how to run your own sound studies without invalidating them, how to brief and critique sound design, and speculative sessions using the lab's own prototypes and card decks. Run on site or remotely, tailored to the products in the room.

You get a working session, materials your team keeps, and follow-up notes.

Half day – 2 days
E-06

Talks & keynotes

Conference keynotes, industry events, and internal all-hands on why sound is the most underused channel in product design — drawn from twenty years of research and the book Sonic UX (MIT Press). Written fresh for the audience rather than delivered off the shelf.

You get a 30–60 minute talk, Q&A, and slides if you want them circulated.

One session

Ongoing advisory is also possible — a standing monthly arrangement for teams who want a second opinion on work in progress rather than a single study. Ask about it.

TRK 02

How it runs

Process

From first call to findings

  1. A short call to work out whether sound is actually your problem. Sometimes it is not, and I will say so.
  2. A written proposal with scope, method, timeline, and fee, so there are no surprises later.
  3. The work itself, with a check-in partway through rather than silence until delivery.
  4. Findings delivered as a document and as a live session, because the questions in the room are the useful part.
  5. Whatever follows: implementation support, a second study, or nothing at all.

What you should expect

  • Methods stated plainly, with limitations reported rather than buried.
  • Findings that occasionally contradict what you hoped for — that is the point of paying for research.
  • Work you can defend to a sceptical stakeholder, with the underlying data available to you.
  • Plain language. If a finding needs a statistics degree to understand, it is not finished.

Studies involving human participants follow the ethics standards of university research, including informed consent and data handling.

TRK 03

Why there are no case studies here

Confidentiality

Client work is done under NDA, without exception. That means I cannot name the Fortune 500 companies I have worked with, show you their sound, or describe the findings — and I will not, which is the same protection your work would get.

What you can inspect instead is the method. The Methods toolkit documents how these studies are designed, the published research shows the work in full with its data and limitations. That is a more honest basis for judging whether I am any good than a testimonial would be.

Start with a conversation

Twenty minutes, no pitch. Bring the product and the question, and you will leave knowing whether this is worth doing, roughly what it would cost, and whether I am the right person for it.

Book a call

Contact

Dr. KC Collins
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Working with teams in North America and Europe

info@sounddr.ca · LinkedIn

Background

Over 20 years in sound and music research. Author of Sonic UX (MIT Press) and nine other books. Professor at Carleton University and director of the Sonic Futures Lab. Former Canada Research Chair in Interactive Audio.