Introducing Sound Patterns

An audio toy to make ambient soundscapes tailored to your mood

We’ve all been there: cranking up a workout playlist to power through a tough gym session, playing a melancholy song on repeat after a bad breakup, or queuing up a lo-fi playlist to focus at work. Sound is one of the most powerful tool for modulating our mood, one that most of us use instinctively every day. 

That's why we're thrilled to introduce Sound Patterns, an audio toy for creating customized soundscapes based on your mood. Sound Patterns is available now in the tools section of the HowWeFeel for iOS. If people like it, we’ll add it to Android too!

Make custom soundscapes

Sound Patterns lets you create ambient soundscapes. Think of it as a personal sound mixer where you can adjust different audio elements to create an audio environment that resonates with your current mood — or the mood you want to experience.

We created four base soundscapes, each corresponding to a quadrant of the Mood Meter. After selecting a color, you can fine-tune your soundscape to create a personalized auditory environment tailored to your mood.

Four customizable soundscapes: We named each soundscape after a city in Japan as a tribute to our collaborator, Yuri Suzuki.

A collaboration with sound artist Yuri Suzuki

To bring Sound Patterns to life, we collaborated with sound artist Yuri Suzuki. Yuri’s work explores the relationship between sound, environments, and people. His creations have been shown in venues like The Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, Tate Gallery in London, and most recently, the Art of Noise exhibit at The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

The artist: Yuri Suzuki standing in front of one of his creations, Sonic Bloom. Photo Credit: Alberto Balazs.

The How We Feel team was particularly taken with a project Yuri created during the 2020 pandemic titled, The Ambient Machine. The Ambient Machine is a small wooden device that generates a variety of sounds and music to create your very own background ambience.

“The idea of using sound and music as part of the background environmental noise, instead of highlighting it in the foreground, has a history that began with the works of Erik Satie, and more recently with the ambient music of Brian Eno.”
— Yuri Suzuki

The Ambient Machine: By toggling the various switches on the device, The Ambient Machine lets you design your own ambient sound to  suit your current mood.

Designing Sound Patterns

Yuri partnered with HowWeFeel Designer, Andreas Helin and engineers, Ben Weissmann and Sam Cronejo to create a digital toy inspired by The Ambient Machine. The trio endeavored to make an experience that was approachable and fun. 

“Sound Patterns should feel more like a toy than a tool. You can play with the sounds, make your own patterns and save your favorites for later.”
— Ben Silbermann

Sound Patterns Mood Board: We were inspired by toys and devices with physical controls. Sound Patterns combines the addictive feeling of popping bubble wrap with the simple controls from our favorite gadgets.

After many prototypes, the team settled on a set of 20 colored dots. Each row of dots maps to a distinct sound element: arpeggio, harmony, melody, low tones, and natural sounds. Each column changes playback speed or direction. Get started by picking a color that resonates with your mood. Then tap different dots to customize the soundscape.

Sound Patterns Controls: Each a row contains a unique sound element. Each row changes the playback speed.

An experimental toy to explore the connection between sound and emotion

We can’t wait for you to try Sound Patterns and hear what you think! We hope Sound Patterns will encourage you to see sound as a powerful tool in your life. Whether you're looking to lean into a current feeling, or shift to a new emotional state, the right sounds can be a powerful ally in your emotional journey.