Beckerman and Gray's 'The Sonic Boom' is out now.

(Courtesy of the publisher)

It's the dead heat of the summer. All you can hear are buzzing cicadas. And then...you hear the Mister Softee Ice Cream song. 

You might have six pints of Ben & Jerry's in your house already, but "You will literally jump over a freezer of really good ice cream to get to that junky stuff," says Tyler Gray, co-author with Joel Beckerman of The Sonic Boom: How Sound Transforms The Way We Think, Feel, And Buy. 

You'll ignore your freezer because the sound coming from that truck isn't just a jingle. 

It's a sonic marker, that stirs up powerful emotional associations. And you'll pay good money to experience what Beckerman calls "the boom moment."

"It's the sound of ice cream, yes," he explains, "but it's also the sound of childhood, of your kids, of happy simple times. You're not buying ice cream; you're buying memory and experience."

Beckerman is the founder of Man Made Music, an organization dedicated to sonic branding for companies. It's much more than the music that plays behind a commercial -- though that's important, too. A song like Iggy Pop's "Lust For Life" is an interesting sonic misfire: a catchy, upbeat soundtrack with a dark lyrical heart. Perfect as the soundtrack to Royal Caribbean Cruiselines? Maybe. Maybe not.

The use of music and sound -- effectively or otherwise -- is the focus of a conversation with Soundcheck host John Schaefer; Beckerman and Gray explain how sound tugs on your heart strings -- and even impacts your physical health. 

Visit the book's site for in-depth sonic case studies involving AT&T, McDonalds, Coke and more.