Why Silence Feels Different Than Calm (E.318)

“If I go to a restaurant and it has no sound, it’s uncomfortable. Throw some fluorescent lights in there too, and then I’m like, I just wanna get out.”- Sara Hansen

Brief overview of the episode

Regan and Sara zoom in on a micro topic that quietly controls the vibe of your practice: sound. From waiting room music to operatories, headphones, fountains, and even the tone of team conversation, they show how patients interpret what they hear as safety or stress. Then they connect it to marketing: the music and audio you use in ads, reels, and testimonial videos should match the experience you are promising.

What This Episode Reveals

• Silence is not neutral. Patients read it as tension, awkwardness, or calm depending on what else is happening.
• Your team becomes sound-blind to things patients still react to, like drills, suction, and the overall noise floor.
• Marketing is not separate from operations. The best practices market from the inside out, using real experience as the message.
• Audio can increase reach and emotional impact, especially when you pair the right music with patient stories and trending social sound.

What You’ll Learn

• A simple “close your eyes” exercise to audit what your practice actually feels like through sound
• How to choose waiting room audio that supports the atmosphere you want patients to feel
• Small sound-based comfort upgrades worth talking about in marketing (headphones, music choice, sound-canceling options)
• Why the music in your testimonial videos can turn a good story into a felt experience
• A practical social tip: use trending audio to boost visibility without changing your message

If This Sounds Familiar

• Your practice is “fine,” but the vibe feels heavy and you cannot quite name why
• Patients seem tense in the chair even when your team is doing everything right
• Your marketing looks professional, but it does not feel like the real experience inside your practice
• You upgraded tech and systems, but the patient experience did not improve the way you expected
• You want to stand out without discounts, gimmicks, or louder marketing

Next Steps

• Do a 3-minute sound audit tomorrow: close your eyes, listen, and write down what patients are hearing.
• Pick one comfort signal to offer consistently (music choice, headphones, calming waiting room sound). Then mention it on your website and in new patient messaging.
• If you want clarity on what your practice is communicating inside and outside, book a free coaching session at investmentgradepractice.com.

 

Do the free assessment meeting.

Book here: https://calendly.com/productivedentistacademy/coaching-session?utm_source=IGP-Website&month=2026-02

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TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Sara Hansen: The Productive Dentist Academy podcast network,

[00:00:04] Regan Robertson: doctors, doctors, listening, what sounds are you incorporating, uh, unintentionally in your dental practice? And more importantly, do you pay attention to the sounds that you’re using, the music you’re using in your marketing? And do those two things intersect and aligned, or are they broken?

[00:00:24] Regan Robertson: Believe it or not, this really can impact your marketing effectiveness. Thanks for tuning into the Everyday Practices Dental Podcast. I’m Reagan Robertson, my co-host Sarah Hanson, and I interview real dentists and experts who grow their dental practices using authentic marketing in a way that you can remember, repeat and use in your own practice to get the patients you deserve.

[00:00:44] Regan Robertson: Let’s dive in. Hey, Sarah Hanson, my co-host.

[00:00:48] Sara Hansen: Hello Reagan. How are you?

[00:00:51] Regan Robertson: I am phenomenal. We’re gonna tackle a really, um, I would call it a micro topic, and it flows through to your internal marketing just as much [00:01:00] as your external marketing. And that is using sound, uh, you know, to strengthen your brand and, um, elevate the patient experience.

[00:01:10] Sara Hansen: Yes, I know. Who would’ve thought little music? Does it make them feel anxious or does it make them feel excited? Does it make them feel comforted? Right.

[00:01:20] Regan Robertson: Well, you know what’s funny is I don’t really think about that so much in the dental practice, but I know if I go to a restaurant and it has no sound, oh yeah.

[00:01:29] Regan Robertson: If there aren’t like a lot of people in there, so you don’t have like the den of the dining room and people talking, it’s uncomfortable. Throw some fluorescent lights in there too, and then I’m like, I just wanna get out.

[00:01:41] Sara Hansen: You’re like, no, thank you, Regan. Have you ever had an experience where the dentist is like singing.

[00:01:48] Sara Hansen: Like,

[00:01:49] Regan Robertson: no, but my mailman sings every single day and I know my mail is being delivered because I hear a song that is so crazy that you say that I would love a singing dentist. That would be really [00:02:00] joyful. Do have you met at Singing Dentist?

[00:02:02] Sara Hansen: Uh, yeah. So I worked for one as a di.

[00:02:04] Regan Robertson: Okay. Yes.

[00:02:05] Sara Hansen: Yeah. He loved like good old, you know, let’s call it yacht rock time period.

[00:02:13] Sara Hansen: You know, Michael McDonald, you know, uh. Who are they? Holland

[00:02:20] Regan Robertson: notes. Oh yeah. Holland notes is good.

[00:02:22] Sara Hansen: Yeah.

[00:02:23] Regan Robertson: Hitting the, hitting the key demographic here. I see. I must be, yeah, an ideal patient.

[00:02:27] Sara Hansen: Well, I was gonna say, you know, me in my young twenties, I was like, what is this? But now I’m a fan. But yeah, he loved it.

[00:02:35] Sara Hansen: And you know, it was part of that kind of smooth jazz type of vibe. And he would sing and I would, I would say the patients actually loved it. Um, we, as his team would giggle. But it just,

[00:02:49] Regan Robertson: which you really?

[00:02:49] Sara Hansen: Yeah. ’cause it was funny,

[00:02:51] Regan Robertson: you know, like giggling, invokes joy.

[00:02:53] Sara Hansen: Yeah, exactly. But he loved it. And I will say, I think he got more compliments from the patients than anything [00:03:00] because I think it made them feel relaxed.

[00:03:02] Sara Hansen: Right. That he was having a good time. ’cause he was relaxed, he was singing. Um, and have,

[00:03:08] Regan Robertson: I’m gonna throw, I’m gonna throw a curve ball at you. Okay. Do you ever use the doctor singing in advertisements? No. At Productive Dentist Academy, we’ve helped thousands of private practice owners find the clarity inside their data and take control again, starting with a free 60 minute coaching session.

[00:03:27] Regan Robertson: Head over to investment grade practice.com right now before the next patient sits down to claim your free 60 minute coaching session. That’s investment grade practice.com.

[00:03:37] Sara Hansen: Oh, great. We missed it. We missed it. Although I think, you know, back in the early two thousands. When the Instagram didn’t exist, but okay.

[00:03:48] Sara Hansen: That’s such a good, I mean, here’s the thing, Reagan, I think. So many times things are happening inside the dental practice that we can carry through in our marketing, and yet we never capture [00:04:00] them because we don’t think about it or we don’t think our,

[00:04:03] Regan Robertson: well, I think I, here we all think about it as separate things.

[00:04:05] Regan Robertson: I mean, and myself included, marketing is a thing that you do and it sits outside of your daily business and you hire somebody for it and they just make the phone ring like that. It feels like, it’s like it’s siloed.

[00:04:16] Sara Hansen: Yeah.

[00:04:17] Regan Robertson: When, when the. The best practices. Think of marketing as an inside out effort. And so, and I mean, you and I have spoke about authenticity for so long.

[00:04:25] Regan Robertson: That is what, that is what that looks like. So say, okay, so now we got a fictitious doctor. Well, you had a real one.

[00:04:31] Sara Hansen: Yeah.

[00:04:32] Regan Robertson: And maybe the, maybe you’re not really excited about putting yourself out there in that way, like, uh, uh, across all the social media channels, but what music is being played in the advertisements.

[00:04:43] Sara Hansen: Yeah, I know. You know, it’s interesting because music is such a powerful, either motivator. Mm-hmm. Um, it can create anxiety. I mean, how many of us, so I don’t know how many of you know me very well, but I [00:05:00] am pretty active. I was a runner for a really long time. I am not the person who can run with no headphones.

[00:05:08] Sara Hansen: I need to have a really amazing, upbeat playlist because when mild 10 hits and I want to go home and drink a Dr. Pepper instead of game for running. I like, need that motivational song to be like, no, you’re not stopping. We’re going, this is like hyping me up. Right. Um, so

[00:05:28] Regan Robertson: I, did you see that, did you see that Spotify added beats per minute?

[00:05:31] Sara Hansen: Yes.

[00:05:32] Regan Robertson: In, I freaked out because thinking of playlists for, you know, for activities like that. Yeah. Or a brand experience

[00:05:39] Sara Hansen: brand,

[00:05:40] Regan Robertson: you know, I have wanted that for so long and I have had to like go and, and look up in Google how many beats per minute is this song and this song. ’cause if you’re putting together.

[00:05:48] Regan Robertson: A playlist or something that has transitions, you wanna make sure that it’s congruent. So I thought that was really neat.

[00:05:54] Sara Hansen: Yeah. And doctors, did you also know, I bet a lot of your team know this [00:06:00] too, Reagan, you know about social media, like the trending music and stuff?

[00:06:04] Regan Robertson: Oh yeah.

[00:06:04] Sara Hansen: So doctors, you’re looking to gain more social media.

[00:06:09] Sara Hansen: You know, presence and engagement and that sort of thing. When your team is posting for you or if you’re the one that’s posting social media. If you go to the audio, which I strongly suggest that you’re using audio with all of your social media posting, but you can click on trending and those are actually the reals or the tiktoks or whatever they are, YouTube shorts that are trending with music.

[00:06:32] Sara Hansen: And if you can attach a reel, your video to that. Now you’re going to be seeing more because that’s audio that’s trending. So just a little tip there for you that, you know, if we’re looking to really use sound in a way to help boost our marketing efforts, that is a really awesome way,

[00:06:49] Regan Robertson: man. There’s a, a fun, I think a psychological tip for it too.

[00:06:53] Regan Robertson: So I didn’t even think about the reach trending audio is super smart because then you’re gonna increase your reach. Super brilliant there. Uh, I was [00:07:00] in Costco over the weekend and uh, our checkout gentleman’s name was Tiago. Tiago made me think of a gentleman on TikTok that has made tons of sounds, and he made it during the pandemic, so six years ago, and I immediately started singing, who in the heck put the muffins in the freezer?

[00:07:20] Regan Robertson: Which made me laugh. I was at Costco, Tiago, the nice gentleman kind of looked at me like, woo. And I was having a better experience as a result. Had nothing to do with Costco except, yeah, they sell muffin. You go, I put the two together. So through that was just a sound, it was just a funny sound that I saw during the pandemic.

[00:07:39] Regan Robertson: Um, so it really anchors into your brain. I should do in the show notes, like how sound anchors the experience. Yeah, I would love a stat for that because I know it’s, it’s a very, uh, powerful conductor. Yeah. How you feel about a brand. Um, something that you, uh, asked me before the show that I wanna bring up is, um, you gave me an [00:08:00] exercise to like close my eyes and hear the sounds around me and what, what am I experiencing?

[00:08:07] Regan Robertson: And I, I, it takes me back to like coaching dental practices and, uh, a doctor reflecting that, you know, he used to hear a lot of laughter and he doesn’t mm-hmm. Anymore.

[00:08:18] Sara Hansen: Mm-hmm.

[00:08:19] Regan Robertson: So, I, I. I’m assuming, um, you know, if I were to close my eyes, well, why don’t you just do that, doctor, if you’re there tomorrow, just close your eyes for a few minutes and kind of pick up on what sounds are around you.

[00:08:31] Regan Robertson: What are, what are floating around you? Do you hear laughter? Do you hear the drill? Do you hear, um, suction going on? Like, do you hear conversations? What? And then, and then how does it, yeah. What is the tone? How does it feel? Yeah. Does it feel uplifting? Does it feel heavy? Um, what is, what is the practice sounding like?

[00:08:50] Sara Hansen: Yeah. Well, and you know, to take it a step further too, when we talk about the total patient experience when it comes to sound. You know, we don’t even hear the [00:09:00] drill sound anymore ’cause we’re so used to it. Right. We

[00:09:02] Regan Robertson: just get blind to it after

[00:09:03] Sara Hansen: while, yeah, you get blind to it. But sometimes that really bothers our patients.

[00:09:06] Sara Hansen: So, you know, again, providing things, you know, headphones or music they can listen to or whatever will just help them. And if that kind of helps their overall patient experience, um, those are the things you wanna pay attention to. ’cause that can be important to patients. Just making them feel comfortable,

[00:09:23] Regan Robertson: you know, actually, I think that’s something that marketing doesn’t take enough advantage of.

[00:09:27] Regan Robertson: But in your marketing saying that you have, um, you know, sound canceling headphones that have a music selection of your choice, I don’t, again, blind to things. So in my own dental practice I get that I get really great headphones and my hygienist is amazing. He knows exactly what music I like, he. Shout out.

[00:09:46] Regan Robertson: Shout out to Michael. Um, he always knows, he, he keeps good notes about me and we always get caught right up. So fantastic that way. I would love to see that on my dentist’s website that they offer that as a service, especially to kind of lower my anxiety. So the reason that I [00:10:00]remember this, not ’cause we’re talking about sound, the last cleaning I had, um.

[00:10:04] Regan Robertson: They switched, they updated their software and it logged them out of Pandora. And so I got to hear one song, and then it was like, would you like to hear more Pandora? You need to create an account. And so I mentioned it like, and so he’s cleaning, right? And I’m like, and so I explained it. He went over to him and he is like, what?

[00:10:20] Regan Robertson: And he, so then he sat and, and fiddled with it, tried to get it to work for me and explained that, you know, the software had been updated and, and it was clearly frustrating for him. I, he gives me great cleanings. I didn’t really care, but I did notice that, like, that’s a perk that I take for granted as part of my experience.

[00:10:36] Regan Robertson: Uh, and so when you’re evaluating somebody new, to know that you have that, some practices, like I don’t get a blanket, I don’t get the weighted blanket. I don’t get a service dog. But some practices that I have seen have. Beautiful service dogs, therapy dogs to come in and help. So, uh, you know, when you put the lens of sound on your micro moment with marketing, if you offer that, you should, you should definitely talk about it.[00:11:00]

[00:11:00] Sara Hansen: For sure. Yeah. Like let them know it’s an option.

[00:11:03] Regan Robertson: Yeah.

[00:11:04] Sara Hansen: I mean, you know, again, I, I wouldn’t need it, but I also think, again, let’s give it as an option to all of your patients because we don’t know, you know, what they need or don’t need. And so what are

[00:11:18] Regan Robertson: your 2 cents, what are your 2 cents on waiting room music?

[00:11:23] Sara Hansen: So I will say, okay guys, I have a confession.

[00:11:28] Regan Robertson: I I have no idea what you’re gonna say, so

[00:11:30] Sara Hansen: I know. Oh, no. Uh, I am not a lover of country music, so, uh, Sarah, I, I know have, I just like lost friends now, but I will say, um, you know, so I think we have to be. I guess neutral when it comes to music in the waiting room.

[00:11:50] Sara Hansen: Right. So again, I think when it comes to what brand or what atmosphere are you trying to create for your patients, if you want it to feel comfortable, if you [00:12:00] want it to feel fun, you know, if you want it to feel luxurious, you’re going to have so many different sounds when it comes to that. I mean, think about any spa that we’ve ever been to, right?

[00:12:11] Sara Hansen: For a massage or piece owls, anything like that. It’s like that same type of music. Because that they want you to feel relaxed. Usually it’s like water running, you know, things like that. But again, that’s the important part of what sound plays for that experience. And I think if I went in for a massage and all these things, and there was.

[00:12:33] Sara Hansen: Some other music, I’d be like, wait a second, right? Like, what is this? I want my running water. I want my, like,

[00:12:40] Regan Robertson: it’s interesting that you say running water because, uh, my, I had a family member, I took them to a dental appointment, completely different practice, and they didn’t have music. They had a fountain.

[00:12:51] Sara Hansen: Yeah,

[00:12:52] Regan Robertson: so it was weird that you said that. ’cause I didn’t think of music. I actually thought, oh, well they, they, they had this really great fountain and it was really relaxing and it does [00:13:00] remind me kind of, of a spa experience like that. So, so another important key thing that I know you and I are passionate about is, since we’re talking about bridging this with.

[00:13:09] Regan Robertson: Marketing.

[00:13:10] Sara Hansen: Yeah.

[00:13:11] Regan Robertson: When you do advertisements, if you do a TV ad, if you do a social media, anything that has video and sound in it, are you zoning in on that authentic experience? Are you transferring it? So instead of using Hard Rock because you love Hard Rock, or because some marketing agent told you that your demographic likes hard Rock,

[00:13:28] Sara Hansen: right?

[00:13:28] Regan Robertson: Are you gonna put that in and then they’re gonna walk into a water fountain or,

[00:13:33] Sara Hansen: yeah.

[00:13:33] Regan Robertson: Or is it going to translate over so that they really know that that expectation is gonna be met at at the time that they walk in the front door?

[00:13:42] Sara Hansen: Yeah. You know, Reagan, some of the most powerful patient testimonial videos that I’ve seen in my years of marketing have.

[00:13:49] Sara Hansen: Yes. The. The message, right, the patient story. Yes. That’s powerful. But then you tie in really, [00:14:00] um, God, I don’t know, powerful kind of inspirational music to that testimonial. And now it goes from, wow, that’s a great testimonial to now it’s causing emotion, right? It’s like, yeah. Music can be really powerful.

[00:14:15] Sara Hansen: And so when it comes to whatever it is that you’re doing externally, it does matter. It does matter what you’re putting out, kind of the the feel that you want patients to have. And you also want that to, again, doctors match what’s coming in. To the waiting room. So you know, you wanna still create that same type of environment, that same type of fill with the music.

[00:14:39] Sara Hansen: Um, because music is powerful, it really can set the tone in so many

[00:14:43] Regan Robertson: ways. There are a couple of really good videos on YouTube right now that they have taken, um, classic movie scenes. Yeah. And then switched the style of music Yeah. To create a completely different experience.

[00:14:56] Sara Hansen: Yeah.

[00:14:57] Regan Robertson: The other videos I love are the ones that take [00:15:00] out like the friends episodes and they take out the laugh track.

[00:15:03] Regan Robertson: Oh

[00:15:03] Sara Hansen: yeah.

[00:15:04] Regan Robertson: It is. Creepy. It’s so different. So sound plays such an important role. Once I started paying attention to sound like that, um, my, my family and I, we just, well, my son and I, we went through the Stranger Thing series and we’re just kind of obsessed with it. And what we were able to call out pretty early on is when it’s going to be a lighthearted scene, the music.

[00:15:26] Sara Hansen: Yes,

[00:15:26] Regan Robertson: definitely makes a shift. And that made me pay attention. And I realized there is very little time in any dialogue scene where there is not some sort of musical sound happening in the ambient background to support what it is that they’re saying. So it evokes, I think it’s very good at evoking, um, the emotion that you want to underline or pronounce.

[00:15:50] Regan Robertson: Yeah. Which, gosh, for patient testimonials. Oh yes. Um,

[00:15:53] Sara Hansen: yeah.

[00:15:54] Regan Robertson: Yeah. Uh, listeners, if you’re, if you want tips on that, I say email. Well, I’m, I’m totally throwing you under the [00:16:00] bus email, Sarah, because, well, we have a lot of videos that we, that, that Phoenix Dental Agency shoots.

[00:16:06] Sara Hansen: Yeah,

[00:16:06] Regan Robertson: you do. And, and I know that you use music to evoke and underline, um, you know, the emotional story’s.

[00:16:13] Regan Robertson: That’s happening right there and it’s pretty amazing. So if you want some good ideas, I would say sarah@phoenixihc.com. Yeah.

[00:16:20] Sara Hansen: Yeah. You guys reach out to me again, you know, I can even help walk you or a team member through, you know, how do we maximize the social media trends, you know, that sort of thing. I am happy to kinda show you how to do those different things.

[00:16:33] Sara Hansen: Um, yes, I’m here as a support. Reach out to me, you guys. We can talk Sound of music. Wait, not sound of music, sound and, and. Music.

[00:16:45] Regan Robertson: Well, thank you Sarah so much. Uh, listeners, we would love to get your feedback on, uh, our new format with Sarah and I really getting down into the weeds and capturing these little micro moment, uh, marketing intersections where you can get way more outta your [00:17:00]marketing than, uh, than maybe you even thought possible and build up the patient trust.

[00:17:04] Regan Robertson: So we get increased to case acceptance, which helps more patients, which makes Sarah and I super duper happy. So. Thank you for tuning in. Give us feedback. I’m Sarah, SAR a@phoenixdentalagency.com.

[00:17:15] Sara Hansen: That’s right. Thanks everyone.

[00:17:17] Regan Robertson: Hey, thanks for joining us on Everyday Practices Dental Podcast. It would mean the world to me if you could leave us a like or a review on iTunes or go to Productive Dentist Academy through Google and leave us a review there.

[00:17:29] Regan Robertson: You know, we are here each week to talk about what’s possible when you leave your practice with clarity and courage. If you are ready to build a business that supports your life and not the other way around, investment grade practice coaching, powered by Productive Dentist Academy can help. Visit investment grade practice.com to schedule your free 60 minute coaching session so you can start designing the practice and lifestyle you’ve been dreaming about all along.