A few things that fuel my work:
I love learning about different languages!
Why? Different languages open doors to different cultures, thoughts, experiences. Language shapes our perception, and what we perceive affects how we act.
I am fascinated by sound!
Why? What we hear has the power to evoke emotion, inspire movement, recall memories. It can make us move, dance, cry, laugh, and instill fear or bring joy. We combine sounds to express ourselves through speech and music. To me, sound is ultimately the experience of waves of energy that have the power to change our state of being.
I am amazed by the brain!
Why? What we think we hear is the brain’s work. The brain integrates all kinds of information from the speech signal and other sensory input from our external environment, our experiences and memories, our cognitive processes, and much more (the whole context). All of this affects what we perceive in the moment and over time (even if you don’t think it does). How does this happen? How much control do we have over this?