Dr Joe Newbold: How can music help us to sit less, move more and be more productive? #3

eWorkLife: work, life and wellbeing

Professor Anna Cox talks to Dr Joe Newbold, an expert in Sonic Interaction Design, about how he's managed to combine his passion for music with his curiosity about how we interact with technology. We talk about how we can use our expectations of how music unfolds to help us really focus on our work, or to be more active - in a way that's much more subtle and sophisticated than just paying high-energy, go-faster music in a gym. We also talk about how we can use the way music moves us to encourage people to take activity breaks when working and how we can use changes in rhythm to not so much interrupt work, but give people a better sense of time passing - so we don't just get lost in work and end up sitting for hours on end.

Dr. Joe Newbold is a lecturer at Northumbria University and an expert in Sonic Interaction Design. His research explores how we can use audio interaction to encourage physical activity and wellbeing. He's published on how we can use musically informed sonification for facilitating progress in chronic pain rehabilitation and is currently researching whether a music app can help people to both concentrate on their work and take regular breaks.

Find out more about eWorkLife, including tips for managing your own wellbeing and work-life balance, on our website https://www.eworklife.co.uk/ Episode transcript and show-notes: https://www.eworklife.co.uk/podcast/

Follow us on twitter @_e_worklife and @annacox_

Music credit: ScottHolmesMusic.com

Producer: Clare Casson