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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | International workspace company Spaces recently teamed up with Dutch lifestyle brand to create ‘Spirit de Travail’ a fragrance that can allegedly boost productivity and make people feel more at ease in the workplace.
Productivity at work can be influenced by a variety of factors, of which smell is one of the least obvious. According to research done by Prof. Gary E. Schwartz from the University of Arizona, negative feelings like irritation, annoyance and stress can effectively be countered by fragrances that induce positive effects like happiness, relaxation and productivity. The findings of this study inspired Spaces, a company that specializes in building custom workspaces for businesses and professionals, to come up with a fragrance that both relaxes users and boosts their productivity.
Rare condition leaves woman unable to hear men’s voices
A Chinese woman recently made the news after being diagnosed with a very rare form of hearing loss which leaves sufferers unable to hear low frequency sounds, like men’s voices. The woman from Xiamen, on China’s east coast, knew something was wrong when she woke up one morning and realised that she couldn’t hear anything her boyfriend said. She had been suffering from nausea and ringing in her ears the night before, but figured that a good night sleep would make everything better, so she went to bed.
Ms. Chen was told by an ear, nose and throat specialist she had a rare condition known as reverse-slope hearing loss. It gets its name from the shape that results on an audiogram, the test conducted to determine a person’s ability to hear sounds of increasing frequency.