Sound decisions your clients can't argue with
SonicUXR is a research partner for audio branding agencies, sound design studios and audio technology companies. We combine UX research with music cognition science, so your creative direction starts from evidence and holds up when it's challenged.
Explain, defend, and improve your sound decisions.
From pitch to discovery to production to validation, we back your work with science, so it's not just creative, but credible, effective, and easy to champion.
Pitch support
that wins work
Bring a research expert into your next pitch. Within 1–3 days, you'll have client-ready slides and copy built on a competitive analysis of your client's sonic landscape: how competitors sound, aspirational case studies, and where the brand can stand out. We can also join the pitch as your research specialist, adding credibility when your prospective client needs convincing.
Competitive analysis
for sonic branding
Add research to the early stages of a project. Before your team commits to a direction, we map the competitive audio landscape: what the category sounds like, where the conventions sit, and where the white space is. You get a clear evidence base for the creative brief, and a defensible answer when the client asks why this sound and not another.
Evidence briefs
for confident creative
Turn the science of sound into design decisions your team can use. We review the research behind your project's questions, from what wakes a heavy sleeper to what music makes a wait feel shorter, and distill it into clear, practical guidelines. Formats range from a quick insight brief to a full white paper, ready to share with your client or the public.
User research
that validates your sound
Find out how real people hear your work. Through listening tests, interviews, usability testing and on-site observation, we show what's working, what isn't and why. You get the evidence to refine your sound, guide product development, and prove its value to clients and stakeholders.
A research partner for
your creative team
Join our free Research Partnership and get a white-label research expert on call. We combine UX and music perception research to guide creative direction, settle internal debates with evidence, and make your work easier to defend when clients push back. Research is scoped into client projects, so you gain expertise when you need it and pay no retainer when you don't.
Instant evidence for
your creative work
The Sonic Insights Library, our free Substack, translates academic research into plain-language takeaways and practical design recommendations. Search the archive by topic to strengthen your rationale, back up client conversations, and create sonic assets with intention and credibility. Full reports are published monthly for paid subscribers.
Founded by
Caitlyn Trevor, PhD
Caitlyn 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 The Ohio State University and has published her work in top journals such as PNAS, JASA, and Music Perception. She was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship to study music & neuroscience, and is professionally certified in user research.As a musician, Caitlyn has a Master’s in Cello Performance, composed an award-winning short film score, and designed sound for theater and film.At SonicUXR, Caitlyn combines scientific rigour with a musician's understanding of creative work, equipping sound teams to create more intentional, impactful audio. Her mission is to change how sound is understood, valued, and designed across industries.She was recently selected for the CatalyseHer accelerator (INCO × Visa Foundation), supporting women founders building high-impact businesses.
From the teams we work with
"Caitlyn's sonic research is really impressive. Her approach to analyzing the effect music has on an objective level has provided unmatchable insights on client projects. We look forward to continuing our work with her!"
Sami El-Quqa
CEO
MusicGrid
"Part of Caitlyn's value sits in her ability to take a lot of different pieces (for us, the research on noise sensitivity, the EEG testing in Ukraine, and what runners told us about hearing the sound) and turn them into a clear story. She understood why we started Start Without a Shot, but also pushed us to explain how we chose the sound and what the evidence actually showed. That made the report much stronger. It gave us something concrete to put in front of race organizers and governing bodies."
Kirkland Lynch
Global Chairman
Start Without a Shot
"Caitlyn’s natural curiosity, deep expertise in the human perception of sound and music, and strong analytical and research skills make her an invaluable collaborator. Her thoughtful, cooperative approach has made working with her a true pleasure. Her work in this emerging field is both innovative and essential, bringing much-needed expertise to a discipline poised to shape the future of user experience."
Stephen Hess
VP, Products & Engineering
MedRhythms
"Caitlyn brought invaluable outside perspective, free from our creative biases. She broadened our thinking and provided solid reasoning to inform design decisions. In particular, she referenced studies about UX sound in hospitals. I was familiar with some of that research but hadn't made the connection to our project. It was a great cross-industry insight that clarified our approach."
Wesley Slover
Sound Designer
Sanctus
"Caitlyn has a rare ability to translate complex sonic phenomena into meaningful, actionable insights that translate well across areas of expertise. Her research pushed our thinking further and brought greater clarity to the areas we were exploring throughout our engagement."
Jeff Larson
Chief Product Officer
Moodsonic
“Caitlyn is a true research partner in that she not only has all the honed skills and discipline required, but more importantly goes out of her way to understand the purpose and goals behind all the diligent work - it is not to check boxes or simply distill out observations, but rather to discover insights that can lead to action and influence sonic work being created in service of her clients."
Marco Vitali
ECD
Sonic Lens Agency
Trusted by sound teams worldwide
Ready to back your sound with evidence?
Whether it's a project, pitch, or product, we'll help you define the right approach.
© 2026 Caitlyn Trevor, PhD | LinkedIn | Header photo by John Benitez on Unsplash, footer photo by Xingchen Yan on Unsplash
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The client
Start Without a Shot is a non-profit initiative that replaces the starting pistol at races with a non-triggering sound signal. The aim is to make athletic events accessible to noise-sensitive people, such as survivors of armed violence and neurodivergent individuals.
The challenge
To help convince race organisers to adopt their inclusive start sound, Start Without a Shot included a technical report in their information pack. It described EEG testing results used to select their alternative race start sound. However, the report was written for specialists and was largely inaccessible to general readers. We saw an opportunity to rewrite it for a general audience and make it a more persuasive document that could support wider adoption of their sound.
Our approach
To tell Start Without a Shot's story more persuasively, we expanded the technical report into five sections: the problem, our solution, testing, user feedback and next steps.The problem: We added a literature review showing the scope of the issue.
Our solution: We described the creative approach behind the sound.
Testing: We rewrote the findings from the original technical report for a general audience and added bar chart visualizations.
User feedback: We included quotes from runners at the sound's premiere, Nova Post's first Barrier-Free Marathon in Kyiv in September 2024.
Next steps: We outlined the organization's future goals, based on conversations with their Global Chairman.We also designed the document in Canva to be visually striking and easy to take in.
Impact
The evidence report is published on Start Without a Shot's website as public-facing support for the sound, and it is shared with race organisers and governing bodies to make the case for adoption. Since its release, new races have adopted the sound. These include the Run for Joy 5K, the first race in Puerto Rico to use it, with more than 850 participants, and the Around the Crown 10K in Charlotte, the largest road race in North Carolina.
"Part of Caitlyn's value sits in her ability to take a lot of different pieces (for us, the research on noise sensitivity, the EEG testing in Ukraine, and what runners told us about hearing the sound) and turn them into a clear story. She understood why we started Start Without a Shot, but also pushed us to explain how we chose the sound and what the evidence actually showed. That made the report much stronger. It gave us something concrete to put in front of race organizers and governing bodies."Kirkland Lynch, Global Chairman, Start Without a Shot
Photo by Steven Lelham on Unsplash
The client
A leading enterprise alerting platform, via Sanctus, a sound and music design studio.
The challenge
On-call engineers depend on alert sounds that can wake them at 3am or pull them away from family time, and many come to dread them. The client wanted to expand its notification library with sounds that stay clear and effective without adding to on-call stress.
Our approach
We proposed structuring the research around user personas, which the studio drafted from real user feedback. We turned each on-call scenario into a research question, then reviewed research on auditory perception, alarm design, notification fatigue and emotional response to produce sound design guidance for each persona.
Deliverable
An evidence brief synthesizing research on auditory perception and alarm design into sound design recommendations for five on-call personas.
Impact
Our persona-based framework shaped the client's expanded notification library, which now organises sounds into four user-centred categories to help engineers find the right alert for their situation. The client later featured the research-backed sounds in a published article. In the studio's words:
"Your research and guidance really did set us on track for success on this one and everyone was really happy with the work."Wesley Slover, Sound and Music Designer, Sanctus
Photo by Jerry Wang on Unsplash
The client
A global operator of landmark urban visitor attractions, via Ircam Amplify.
The challenge
The operator wanted evidence-based sound design guidelines its global creative team could use to improve visitor experiences across every venue.
Our approach
Working with Ircam Amplify's research and creative leads, we built on the operator's existing visitor journey and emotional goals. For each stage, we identified the role sound could play, then reviewed research in psychoacoustics, music psychology and sensory marketing to guide those decisions.
Deliverables
39-page white paper of stage-by-stage creative guidelines, drawing on 70 sources
Presentation deck summarizing the evidence for each stage
Impact
Ircam Amplify's team presented our research directly to the operator, whose venues in major cities across Europe and North America welcome more than 3 million visitors a year. The guidelines give its creative team an evidence base for shaping how those visitors experience sound at every stage of their visit.
Photo by Jacob Steckmann on Unsplash
The client
A luxury brand in the Middle East, via a regional sonic branding agency.
The challenge
The agency was competing against three other firms to create the brand's first sonic identity. It needed a pitch with more depth than its competitors' and, once the project was won, evidence to guide the brand's early creative direction.
Our approach
The pitch: Working with one of the agency's Brand Consultants, we quickly analyzed four brands to map the competitive sonic landscape and suggest a direction for differentiation. We then co-presented at the pitch meeting, bringing scientific credibility to the agency's proposal.
The sonic vision: Once the project was won, we expanded the analysis to seven luxury hospitality, lifestyle and aviation brands, comparing their key sonic traits, emotional tone, strengths and weaknesses. Working closely with the agency's Creative Director, we aligned our findings with their creative ideas so the client heard one coherent story.
Deliverables
Competitive landscape map for the pitch, with a recommended direction for differentiation
Industry sound analysis and in-depth competitive analysis of seven brands
Differentiation analysis identifying what set the brand apart from category conventions, and where sound could make it unique
Impact
Our analysis added depth and scientific credibility to the agency's pitch, which went on to win the project against three competitors. In the sonic vision phase, we found that while competitors used sound to create a strong sense of place, almost none had a consistent, memorable sonic identity. That gap became the brand's core sonic opportunity and shaped the creative direction presented to the client.
Photo by mohammad hassan taheri on Unsplash
Ready to back your sound with evidence?
Whether it's a project, pitch, or product, we'll help you define the right approach.
© 2026 Caitlyn Trevor, PhD | LinkedIn | Footer photo by Xingchen Yan on Unsplash
Cookie Policy | Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions