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Effect of workplace sound level on physiological well-being revealed in new study
LAWRENCE — New research published in Nature Digital Medicine and co-written by a University of Kansas professor assessed how sounds experienced in an indoor setting affects individual well-being. The study recruited 231 office workers from the U.S. General Services Administration. “We have a fair understanding from a psychological perspective, but much needs to be understood in terms of physiological effects of prolonged sound level exposure,” said Karthik Srinivasan, assistant professor of business analytics.
School of Architecture & Design announces spring 2023 KU Design Symposium Lecture Series
LAWRENCE — The School of Architecture & Design at the University of Kansas has announced programming for the Spring 2023 KU Design Symposium Lecture Series, beginning with a panel discussion with designers from Hallmark at 6 p.m. today, Feb. 2.
‘Love and Information,’ a kaleidoscope of quick encounters, searches for meaning in collaborative production
LAWRENCE — Audiences at the University Theatre’s spring season opener will witness a unique performance from within the University of Kansas Department of Theatre & Dance with a script that’s been transformed by students. “Love and Information,” by British playwright Caryl Churchill, explores the intersections of belief, knowledge and the search for community. The show opens at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 9, and Kansas cast and crew members include students from Iola, Lawrence, Olathe, Overland Park, Shawnee and Topeka.
Spring 2023 KU Architecture Lecture Series opens Feb. 3
LAWRENCE — The School of Architecture & Design at the University of Kansas has announced programming for the Spring 2023 Architecture Lecture Series. The series will include the Health + Wellness Design Symposium on Feb. 20, featuring discussions on how architecture can bridge the gap between social equity and human well-being. It will lead off Feb. 3 with Stephen Grabow, professor emeritus of architecture at KU, who assisted in the design of the KU Vietnam Memorial.
Full stories below.
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Contact: Jon Niccum, KU News Service, 785-864-7633, [email protected]
Effect of workplace sound level on physiological well-being revealed in new study
LAWRENCE — The sound made by a refrigerator is just 50 A-weighted decibels. A ringing telephone generates 70 dBA, a leaf blower 110 dBA and a jet engine 150 dBA.
But how do these noises affect employees who are exposed to them every day at their workplace?
“It’s a really complex relationship when you think about how sound affects people,” said Karthik Srinivasan, assistant professor of business analytics at the University of Kansas. “Some of us like quiet environments; some of us like noisy environments. We have a fair understanding from a psychological perspective, but much needs to be understood in terms of physiological effects of prolonged sound level exposure.”
That was the impetus for his new study titled “Discovery of associative patterns between workplace sound level and physiological wellbeing using wearable devices and empirical Bayes modeling,” published in Nature Digital Medicine. The study recruited 231 federal office workers who wore multiple devices (around the neck or strapped on the chest) that assessed how sounds experienced in an indoor setting affects individual well-being.
It reveals that physiological well-being is optimal when sound level in the workplace is around 50 dBA. At lower (<50dBA) and higher (>50dBA) amplitude ranges, a 10 dBA increase in sound level is related to a 5.4% increase and 1.9% decrease in physiological well-being, respectively. Age, body-mass-index, high blood pressure, anxiety and computer-intensive work are factors that contribute to specific variations in the results.
He said, “We looked at how we can capture the effect of sound on two different representations of physiological stress. One is primarily related to parasympathetic stress response; the other is a combination of parasympathetic and sympathetic stress response. So, in laymen terms, it means that when you are stressed, the parasympathetic and sympathetic responses are related to your body’s fight-or-flight and rest-and-digest functions respectively, to cope with stress.”
Srinivasan was lead author on the paper, which was part of the Wellbuilt for Wellbeing project led by the University of Arizona. It involved a large team of collaborators that included principal investigator Esther Sternberg, Faiz Currim, Matthias Mehl and Sudha Ram, all with the University of Arizona; Casey Lindberg, with the University of Arizona and HKS Architects; Javad Razjouyan and Bijan Najafi, both with Baylor College of Medicine; Brian Gilligan, Judith Heerwagen and Kevin Kampschroer, all with the U.S. General Services Administration; Hyoki Lee with University of Arizona and Best Buy; Kelli Canada, Logistics Management Institute; and Nicole Goebel and Melissa Lunden, both with Aclima.
The team was assembled to conduct this study for the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), an agency with more than 10,000 employees that manages all the federal buildings in the nation. Research teams were composed of four groups: environmental, physiological, psychological and analytical. The study took place between 2015-2016 and focused on office workers in Texas and Washington, D.C.
“Ultimately, the GSA was very interested in understanding how we can make better workplaces,” Srinivasan said.
He said that one of the key lessons of the paper is that while sound level does affect individuals inside the office workplace, its effect is not linear as might be expected.
“Higher sound levels are not good, but so are very low sound levels,” he said, noting the optimal level resides around 50 decibels ampere.
“The second lesson we learned was this sound level association with physiological well-being is different for different people. We looked at various job roles and demographics, and we learned if participants who fell under the category of computer-intensive work or had high blood pressure, their physiological response to sound was different from the other participants.”
For example, the high blood pressure group proved more susceptible to sound, whereas the computer-intensive group was less affected when compared to the average participant.
Srinivasan began working on this project while a doctoral student at the University of Arizona. He’s now in his fourth year at KU, where his expertise is in machine learning interpretability.
“When we think about well-being, typically we think about emotional or mental well-being,” he said. “We hardly ever consider the physiological well-being or the actual ‘what’s happening in our body,’ which is also important to understand when we’re continuously exposed to environmental factors such as sound.”
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Contact: Dan Rolf, School of Architecture & Design, 785-864-3027, [email protected], @ArcD_KU
School of Architecture & Design announces spring 2023 KU Design Symposium Lecture Series
LAWRENCE — The School of Architecture & Design at the University of Kansas has announced programming for the Spring 2023 KU Design Symposium Lecture Series.
The KU Design Symposium Lecture Series (formerly the Hallmark Symposium) was established in the Department of Design in 1984 to enrich the education of KU students through exposure to designers, artists and educators from around the world. In its 35-plus-year history, the series has become a cultural asset to the local creative community beyond the Lawrence campus.
All lectures begin at 6 p.m. and are free and open to the public either in person in 130 Budig Hall or online via Zoom. See event site for details.
Feb. 2
This panel discussion with designers from Hallmark’s global headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri, will provide insights about what it is like to be a creative professional at one of the nation’s most iconic companies. Hallmark, which began as a one-person greeting card business in the early 20th century, is now a multifaceted media, retail and manufacturing company employing more than 20,000 staff around the world. Among topics the panel will discuss is how designers in Hallmark’s in-house creative studios create, contribute to and lead projects at various scales made for diverse audiences around the world.
Feb. 16
Janelle “Longanisa” Quibuyen is a Filipina-American graphic designer and artist. Her most recent work has been in the digital realm, strategizing and designing social media campaigns that transform complex ideas into digestible content and compelling stories that build and mobilize online communities.
March 2
Donny Rausch is an animator, visual effects artist and KU alumnus. After completing several award-winning animation shorts, he was recruited to work as a paint artist on “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Since then, Rausch has worked on feature films such as “Spider-Man 2,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and many others. In 2016, his work on the bear attack sequence in the Academy Award-winning film “The Revenant” was honored by the Visual Effects Society.
March 23
Pixy Liao is a multidisciplinary Chinese artist based in New York City. Born and raised in Shanghai, Liao explores the fluidity, tensions and persistence of cultural norms. Liao has participated in exhibitions internationally, including at Fotografiska, Rencontres d’Arles, Asia Society, the National Gallery of Australia and many other others.
April 6
Gabriele Fumero is a graphic and type designer for the Associazione Archivio Tipografico, an organization focused on the preservation, study, and the practice of typographic arts in Torino, Italy. Fumero is one of five designers practicing within Archivio Tipografico’s in-house design collective, Studio 23.56. The studio has worked with clients that include A24, Apple TV, Gabriela Hearst, Marc Jacobs and Taschen Books.
April 20
Jason Decker is an industrial design manager at Textron Aviation. A graduate of the KU Industrial Design program, he entered the aviation design field with extensive experience in graphic and illustration work and then quickly developed into a leading designer in the industry. A recipient of a 2022 Business Aviation Top 40 Under 40 Award for Innovation, Decker now leads multidisciplinary teams of design specialists for the global aviation company.
May 4
Shawn Brackbill is a photographer and director who has worked with some of the most iconic publications, brands and artists in the world. His extensive portfolio includes editorial, fashion and promotional projects for a range of clients that include publications such as ESPN, The New York Times and Vogue as well as brands such as Burberry, Nike and Oscar de la Renta. He has captured portraits of musicians ranging from Earl Sweatshirt to Elvis Costello to St. Vincent.
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Contact: Lisa Coble-Krings, Department of Theatre & Dance, 785-864-5685, [email protected], @KUTheatre
‘Love and Information,’ a kaleidoscope of quick encounters, searches for meaning in collaborative production
LAWRENCE — Audiences at the University Theatre’s spring season opener will witness a unique performance from within the University of Kansas Department of Theatre & Dance with a script that’s been transformed by students.
In collaboration with their professors during a fall 2022 class, KU students chose the order and setting of over 50 scenes for “Love and Information” by Caryl Churchill. The scenes explore the intersections of belief, knowledge and the search for community. All cast members, as well as some of the creative team members, took the course, which has now morphed into a fully produced production.
It is highly unlikely any two productions of “Love and Information” are alike, and that is by the playwright’s design, according to Jane Barnette, associate professor of theatre, who is directing KU’s production alongside James Moreno, associate professor of dance. “Our course included dramaturgy and scene analysis as well as movement workshops and storyboarding,” Barnette said. “This is an exceptional group of students, representing not just theatre and dance but other majors as well.”
Performances are 7:30 p.m. Feb. 9, 11, 17 and 18 and 2:30 p.m. Feb. 12 and 19 in the William Inge Memorial Theatre at Murphy Hall. Tickets can be reserved at kutheatre.com, by calling 785-864-3982, or in person at noon-5 p.m. weekdays at the Box Office in Murphy Hall.
Among the questions the play asks: How do we know what we know? How do we love without support? Whose truth is the truth in any given relationship? With its fast-moving sequence of scenes, “Love and Information” may feel a little like being part of a social media community, where one sees quick slices of life go by.
“Love and Information” has been lauded for its poetic language. Audiences may relate to the everyday experiences, exploration of memory, and conflict with family and friends, though there are also moments of lightness. The British playwright has been the recipient of multiple Obie Awards for her work and is in the American Theater Hall of Fame.
Two talkbacks are scheduled. A discussion about the show’s scenography, featuring the designers, will follow the performance Feb. 11 in 341 Murphy Hall. A discussion with the cast will follow the performance Feb. 18 in the Inge Theatre.
Barnette is a theatre maker who writes about adaptation dramaturgy. In 2018, she published “Adapturgy: The Dramaturg’s Art and Theatrical Adaptation,” the first book of its kind to address the theory and practice of adaptation dramaturgy. In 2014, she and Michael Haverty produced their adaptation of Stephen Crane’s “The Red Badge of Courage” for 7 Stages Theatre in Atlanta. Locally, she most recently directed the regional premiere of “Sycorax” by Susan Gayle Todd in 2019. Barnette teaches undergraduate and graduate courses and serves as head of dramaturgy in the Department of Theatre & Dance.
Moreno is a choreographer and dance studies/performance studies scholar. His current research examines how we use everyday movement techniques to perform our cultural identities and how we position our identities within continuums of authenticity. His ethnographic fieldwork for this research is being conducted in Mexican American communities in Chicago. Interviews from this fieldwork will form the basis of the dance-theatre piece on Mexican American cultural identity scheduled for winter 2023/24. Moreno holds a doctorate in performance studies from Northwestern University and is author of “Dances of José Limon and Erick Hawkins” (Routledge, 2020).
The creative team is rounded out by Rana Esfandiary, assistant professor of design and technology, as scenic designer; Sara Baird, first-year MFA student from Tulsa, Oklahoma, as lighting designer; Kieran Spears, senior in psychology from Lawrence, as sound designer; Hanah Glimpse, a local educator, freelance designer and recent alum of the department, as costume coordinator; Jonah Greene, doctoral student from Fayetteville, Arkansas, as dramaturg; and Kaitlin Nelke, a guest artist from Kansas City, Missouri, as stage manager. In addition, Spears is an ensemble member.
Additional cast members are Zoe Arp, first-year student in political science from Overland Park; Tanner Ashenfelter, sophomore in film production and theatre performance from Camp Verde, Texas; Ashleigh Contos, senior in dance from Castle Rock, Colorado; John Dawkins, senior in film & media studies from Olathe; Rianna DeHart, junior in applied behavioral science and pre-occupational studies from St. Louis; Marissa Gaffen, senior in biotechnology from Tulsa, Oklahoma; Pey Hadley, senior in film & media studies from Shawnee; Brandon Heflin, first-year microbiology and pre-pharmacy student from Olathe; Isabella Lind, senior in theatre performance from Solvang, California; India MacDonald, senior in theatre performance from Topeka; Brad Mathewson, senior in English and theatre, culture & society from Topeka; Jordan Nevels, junior in theatre performance from Overland Park; Caleb Jonathan Parish, senior in theatre performance; Lauren K. Smith, senior in theatre performance from Topeka; and Jonathan Wall, a sophomore in theatre and history from Iola.
The University Theatre and University Dance Company are production wings of KU’s Department of Theatre & Dance, offering five to six public productions throughout the academic year. The University Theatre and University Dance Company productions are funded in part by KU Student Senate fees, and the theatre’s season is supported by Truity Credit Union.
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Contact: Dan Rolf, School of Architecture & Design, 785-864-3027, [email protected], @ArcD_KU
Spring 2023 KU Architecture Lecture Series opens Feb. 3
LAWRENCE — The School of Architecture & Design at the University of Kansas has announced programming for the Spring 2023 Architecture Lecture Series.
The Architecture Lecture Series welcomes architectural and experiential design leaders from across the country to KU to illuminate new ideas and inspire purpose-driven design practice. Lecturers bring a wide range of expertise in areas such as sustainable building, digital environments, public interest design, historic preservation, health and wellness design, and more.
Spring 2023 lectures will be offered in-person in the Forum at Marvin Hall and livestreamed. See events site for streaming information.
Faculty Spotlight: Stephen Grabow, 5 p.m. Feb. 3
Stephen Grabow is a professor emeritus of architecture at KU. As chair of the University Committee on Art in Public Spaces, he assisted in the design of the KU Vietnam Memorial with Doran Abel, an architecture student. He is the author of several books and numerous journal articles on architectural and urban design, and he is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Fulbright Commission. At KU he taught the principles of modern architecture, history of urban design and architectural design studios for 44 years and was a recipient of the Bradley Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Health + Wellness Design Symposium, 2 p.m. Feb. 20
The KU Institute of Health + Wellness Design presents the sixth annual Health + Wellness Design Symposium: Health, Equity & Architecture. The event will feature discussions on how architecture can bridge the gap between social equity and human well-being. Panelists will include Diamond Bronson of Hoefer Welker, Curtis Moody of Moody Nolan and Bonny Slater of Gensler.
Jonathan Heppner: Timber Futures: 5 p.m. March 24
Jonathan Heppner is a principal at LEVER Architecture, a Portland, Oregon, architecture firm specializing in mass timber design. He has over 20 years of design and management experience working with significant civic and creative organizations. As a native Oregonian, his interest in timber detailing and construction led to his management role on Framework, the first 12-story mass timber high-rise project in the U.S. to receive permitted approval.
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