The aestheticization of social media, the speed of content consumption, the dominance of music as background, the overwhelming presence of subtitles and even the fatigue of phone calls have steadily undermined the relevance of sound, especially its capacity to be truly listened to. Among digital natives, listening has become fragmented, incidental, almost optional.

While sound has proven to be a strong ally of multitasking (as shown by the solid success of podcasts and audiobooks), that strength may also be its weakness: its current relevance depends heavily on audiovisual content. But at what cost to our ability to create personal imagery or connect with our environments, urban ones included?

These are the very questions that inspired the recent creation of Tender Radio, a project by the Institute for Postnatural Studies that we at (Granpaso) Strategy Company are proud to have supported, alongside Radio Relativa and the Goethe-Institut e.V. Adding to this, we had the privilege of sharing the inaugural night, marked by an intimate concert from Nicolas Jaar and Eli Wewentxu.

How can it be that 1 in 6 Europeans experience hearing loss, yet we keep buying headphones not to hear more, but to cancel sound altogether?