The Neuroscience of Sound: How Audio Shapes Emotion with Caitlyn Trevor

The Neuroscience of Sound: How Audio Shapes Emotion with Caitlyn Trevor

From Audio Branding by Jodi Krangle

June 10, 2026 · 32 min · Season 1 · Episode 343

About this episode

This episode explores how audio influences emotion and human communication with researcher and musician Caitlyn Trevor.

“ Our brain really prioritizes vocal signals. They’re super important to the brain because human communication is a really big priority for us as a species. It’s a deep signal in our brain, right? And so, we were seeing a stronger reaction to the screams than to the music, and that sort of makes sense. There were more intricacies to that, but I can’t really remember the exact brain areas and all that. But it was cool to see that. Yeah, it is sort of mimicking, but our brain really separates them. You know, it may still get sort of a response, a same kind of fearful response, but it’s not going to be as powerful as the voice, um, which makes sense because music is not real, right? There’s a difference between a real stimulus and this sort of artistic one. Yeah, so it was interesting.” – Caitlyn Trevor This episode’s guest is an award-winning researcher and musician with over a decade of experience studying how people perceive and respond to sound. She holds a PhD in Music Theory from Ohio State University and has published her work in top journals. She was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship to study music and neuroscience, and she’s professionally certified in user…

People in this episode

Host: Jodi Krangle

Guest: Caitlyn Trevor

Topics covered

  • neuroscience
  • audio perception
  • human communication
  • emotion
  • music theory
  • sound design

Keywords

  • neuroscience
  • audio
  • emotion
  • communication
  • music
  • sound

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: SonicUXR, Ohio State University

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