Sounds good to 1.8 billion people every day

GLOBAL – Grand Vals, more commonly known now as the Nokia ringtone, is the single most played tune in the world. Every day the tune blasts out an estimated 1.8 billion times. For the majority of people, it means one of two things – pick up, or hang up. For millions, perhaps billions, more it induces a sudden panic pocket check which usually results in “no, not mine, must be someone else’s”.


This little nugget came to light when one Julian Treasure shone his stat torch on it. He gave a talk recently for TED on sound and how it affects us in four significant ways. Watch the talk below to see how bad an idea it is to work in a noisy open office! The talk is hugely captivating (okay, we were waiting to hear the bit about the number of times the Nokia ringtone is played daily) and well worth almost six minutes of your life. Julian is clearly a fascinating guy and as chairman of Sound Agency he leads a team advising companies and brands around the world on the use of sound.

He also writes a blog on sound which, if you’re into sound, is probably worth a read.