What is your professional background and primary research area?

I am an associate professor in both Musicology and Digital Design at Aarhus University. As a composer and sound artist, I work in many different contexts - from theater productions to hospital environments - and this practice-based experience plays a central role in my research.

My primary research area is about sound environments and their impact on people's sense of belonging, safety and participation - what we call sonic citizenship. I investigate how sound shapes social relations and access to community: How do we listen? When do we remain silent? When do we demand space through sound? Who has the right to make noise - and who is expected to be quiet?

I'm particularly interested in how technologies such as speakers, recording equipment and noise-canceling headphones change our relationship to sound in public and private spaces - and how it affects our daily interactions.

What is your connection to SHAPE and what is your current research project in SHAPE about?

My association with SHAPE stems from a shared interest in exploring how digitalization can enhance well-being through sensory and aesthetic approaches. Since my PhD thesis on sound environments in hospitals, I have been working on how we can use digital tools to create safer, more human and meaningful sensory environments in healthcare. I work with concrete sound interventions in delivery rooms and intensive care units, where patients, relatives and staff can help shape the atmosphere in the room.

Right now, we're focusing on collecting and analyzing the knowledge and experiences we've gathered in the rooms we've helped develop. It's a complex task because we are working in an interdisciplinary way and with multi-sensory impressions. The impact of these sound environments is not only measurable in the patients' experience, but also in the work environment and in the way cultures and routines change.

Our experience has made it clear that these spaces act as catalysts for broader cultural change, where people become more aware of the importance and rights of sound in the community - sonic citizenship.

What impact do you expect your project to have on society or your research field?

I hope that our work can help push for a greater awareness of the role of sound in the welfare society. Sound environments are not just background - they actively co-create how we can be present in the world, what we dare to express, and how we feel included or excluded.

In the research field, the project contributes practical knowledge about how aesthetic and technological interventions can affect well-being and social interaction - and with concepts and methods for understanding sound as a social and political force. It's about asking questions about how we listen and who is being listened to.

What future projects do you have in the pipeline?

In addition to further developing our sound interventions in hospital spaces, we are working to expand the perspective of sonic citizenship beyond human relationships. We are interested in how digital sound technologies can be used to create connections between humans and other species - and to promote ecological awareness and responsibility towards the Danish nature.

We are looking at how sound and listening can be part of new ways of engaging with nature - both in health contexts and in broader cultural and environmental practices. Going forward, we want to develop methods that can connect the sensory, technology, and community - across species and domains.