Listen comfortably. Listen well.

• Begin at a comfortable, low volume.
• Do not use audio that reduces awareness while driving, cycling, operating machinery, crossing streets, supervising children, or performing safety-sensitive work.
• Stop listening if you experience discomfort, dizziness, headache, ear pain, or unusual symptoms.
• Do not use the platform as a replacement for professional healthcare.
• People with hearing conditions, sound sensitivity, or neurological concerns should consult an appropriate clinician before using unfamiliar rhythmic or sensory audio.
• Never delay emergency care because of information or audio presented by the platform. In an emergency, contact local emergency services.

For the detail behind the first two points - how level and listening time combine, why a volume percentage is not a decibel measurement, and which symptoms are worth acting on - read Safe Listening: Volume, Headphones and Listening Time. If you listen at night, the sleep preparation guide covers overnight volume, fade-outs and headphone use.

Visual safety and photosensitivity

The Visualizer paints light that reacts to sound, and reactive light deserves the same care as volume. Rapid flashing and high-contrast repeating patterns can trigger seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy, and can cause dizziness or visual discomfort in people who have never had a seizure.

We have not formally characterised the Visualizer's flash rate, frame-to-frame luminance contrast, or spatial pattern behaviour across its looks. Those measurements are pending, so we do not claim the Visualizer is flash-free or safe for photosensitive viewers. Brightness also responds to your audio: loud, percussive input drives faster and stronger visual change than quiet input.

• If you have photosensitive epilepsy, a seizure disorder, or a history of visually triggered migraine, treat any reactive visual tool with caution and consult a clinician before use.
• Use "Reduce motion" in the visual controls on the Visualizer page. It slows the animation's movement and drift, holds visual drive at a steady level instead of letting audio push it, and lengthens the trail fade so frames change less abruptly. It does not eliminate flashing.
• If your device or operating system already requests reduced motion, SonicSenses applies it automatically and the control shows as locked on.
• Lower your screen brightness, sit at a normal viewing distance rather than close to a large display, and keep some ambient light in the room instead of watching in complete darkness.
• Lower "Reaction" or choose a calmer look if the visuals feel too intense, and turn down the audio driving them.
• Stop immediately, look away from the screen, and rest if you notice dizziness, disorientation, visual discomfort, altered vision, twitching, confusion, or any unusual sensation. Seek medical advice if symptoms persist.
• Take breaks during long sessions, and be considerate of anyone else who can see the screen - a full-screen visual affects everyone in the room.

Audio playback permissions

Browsers block sound until you interact with the page, so nothing ever plays on its own.

• Sound starts only after you press Play or tap the "Tap to enable audio" prompt.
• Turn your device volume down before the first press, then raise it slowly.
• On iPhone and iPad, check the silent switch and that Safari is not muted for the tab.
• Press Stop to end playback completely; Pause holds your position without releasing audio.
• Leaving or closing the page stops all audio immediately.

Microphone privacy and consent

The microphone is entirely optional. Every feature that could use it also works by typing or by loading a file from your device.

• Before the browser prompt appears, we show a plain-language notice explaining what is captured and where it goes.
• Voice prompts: a short clip is recorded while the button shows Stop, then uploaded to our first-party /api/stt endpoint and passed to a third-party speech-to-text processor so it can be turned into text. We do not keep the audio afterwards, and we cannot confirm the processor's retention or training practices - see Privacy.
• Mood and intent choices in the Prompt Studio are not stored in our database, but they do emit mood-labelled analytics events into your browser's dataLayer, which an active analytics destination could receive.
• Tab or system audio capture depends on your browser and the source site; DRM-protected streams may be silent or blocked, and no specific streaming service is guaranteed to work.
• Visualizer capture: live sound is analysed in your browser only - nothing is uploaded, recorded, or transcribed.
• Capture always ends when you press Stop, and the recording indicator in your browser tells you when the mic is live.
• Withdraw consent any time on the Your data page, and reset the browser permission from the padlock icon in the address bar.
• Avoid dictating sensitive personal or health information, and be mindful of others nearby before recording.