the story behind Sownd Affects
Sownd Affects was founded by Marion Marincat, who became profoundly deaf at the age of 26. That experience revealed how inaccessible the built environment is for the majority of people.
After seven years of research, Marion founded Sownd Affects to set a new standard for audio-inclusive design.
As a WHO World Hearing Forum facilitator and former founder of a national audiology company, he brings lived experience and a decade of expertise in acoustics, health tech and wellbeing.
Join Marion monthly for a free 45-minute CPD session walking you through the framework, how to apply it, and what to do next.
how to get Sownd Certified
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Past and future projects using SonaSpray or Oscar Elite automatically qualify for Bronze certification which includes:
- Analysis – Expert consultation to highlight opportunities and quantify ROI potential.
- Upgrades – Tailored acoustic treatments to meet certification standards.
- Showcase – Your project listed in the Sownd directory of audio-inclusive spaces, with digital certification assets for your marketing channels.
Ready to find out more? Download the brochure and book a 45-minute CPD session with Sownd Affects.
watch the launch event
Nobody complains about bad acoustics. They just stop coming back. No raised hands, no feedback forms, no complaints to management. They go quiet and stop returning, and because nobody speaks up, nothing gets fixed.
We spend around 90% of our lives indoors, in spaces designed for how they look and almost never for how they sound. The launch of Sownd Certification marked the moment that changes.
Watch the event to find out why acoustic inclusivity is the missing piece in built environment design and what specifying for sound actually looks like in practice.
Oscar HQ – the world’s first Sownd Certified building
Our headquarters, the Oscar Innovation Centre, is the world’s first Sownd Certified building, with multiple certified spaces across the site. Aligning with established standards, ISVR Consulting and Southampton University independently assessed our HQ using 3 key measurements:
- Reverberation time – controlling echo and sound decay.
- Background sound levels – managing ambient noise.
- Speech-to-noise ratio – ensuring clarity of communication.
