Team

Yoko Sen

Yoko K. Sen is an ambient electronic musician and Founder of Sen Sound, with a vision to transform the sound environment in hospitals.  As a classically trained musician, sensitive to sound, she was disturbed by noise she had experienced in hospitals as a patient. Since then, she has embarked on a mission to humanize hospital experience by improving its sound. Yoko is a former citizen artist fellow at Kennedy Center, a former artist-in-residence at Johns Hopkins Sibley Innovation Hub and Stanford Medicine X, and KP Innovation at Kaiser Permanente. Yoko has presented nationally and internationally, including TEDMED (2018) and Aspen Ideas Festival: Health (2019). Born and raised in Japan, Yoko was classically trained in piano from age three.  Yoko had produced the album, “012906,” which was nominated for “Best Album in Electronica” by the 6th Independent Awards.  She then produced the album “Heaven’s Library,” for which she received the Washington Music Association Awards for “Best Electronica Artist.” As a self-proclaimed “sound alchemist,” Yoko aspires to create music, which is, to quote Beethoven, “the mediator between the spiritual and sensual life.”

Avery Sen, PhD

Avery is Co-founder and Research Director at Sen Sound, where he leads the participatory processes that keep sound design grounded in the lived experiences of nurses, doctors, patients, and their families. Prior to Sen Sound, Avery specialized in R&D strategy and evaluation at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, SRI International, and the Space Policy Institute. He holds a doctorate in Public Administration and an MA in International Science & Technology Policy, both from The George Washington University, and a BA in Science & Technology Studies from Cornell University. His studies focused on the philosophy of science, economics of space technology, and organization of "transformative innovation." Avery is driven by a desire to elevate discourse among diverse stakeholders for more responsible research and development. He sees innovation as a social practice of collective sense-making, shaped as much by our tools to share meaning as our tools to explore and build.

Matt Barile

Matt Barile is the Sound Design Director at Sen Sound, where he makes magic at the intersection of two worlds he is intimately familiar with: healthcare and audio. Most members of Matt’s immediate family work in the medical field, and he has had a distinguished career as a sound designer, musician, producer, and manager. Prior to Sen Sound, Matt was a composer, sound-designer, and producer with the Emmy-award winning Sonic Branding firm, Audiobrain. Matt's most recognizable work includes casting the voice of Amazon Echo's "Alexa" and designing the sounds for Google's Voice Search, Hangouts, and Calendar notifications, as well as ringtones, app sounds, and system notifications released on over 1 billion Android phones globally. Matt has composed, produced, and supervised music featured on NBC networks, including for the 2012, 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games broadcasts. His skills have also been applied to the New York Football Giants official broadcast music package, and WNET's educational game series, Mission US. During his undergraduate studies at Binghamton University, Matt was an audio engineer for the campus music venue, and performed in both original and cover bands. He went on to get a Masters in Music Business and Technology from NYU. Matt is honored to now be working with healthcare community members to shape the future sound of hospital environments. In his spare time, he loves to spend time with his wife Nicole, his boy Julian, and dog Carter; eat cheese; dream about theoretical physics; blur the boundaries of art and AI; test his frequency (Hz) recognition; and wander in the woods.