Heather started a voice-only dating service to help lonely people connect during the pandemic, which she then chronicled in a podcast. Can trading only voicemails lead to a love connection? And more importantly, is that cool?

“I was just so amazed by the power of voice and the acceleration of intimacy that happened through my experiment.”

Listen to their submission featured in Episode 98 of How Cool Is This? and read a transcript of the full 5 minute podcast episode below:

Heather: Hi, my name is Heather. At the beginning of quarantine in 2020, I was laid off from my full-time job, and I decided to embark on a creative sabbatical that involved a dating experiment. Since I was single and terribly bad at dating, I decided to create an anonymous voice-only matchmaking experiment from my apartment in Manhattan.

The premise was that I would get a hundred single strangers who were looking to date in a different way, but the twist is that they could only message each other through voice memos in my experiment.

So, one message a day. It could be as long as they want it to be. I would be the intermediary. They didn't share any names. There were no pictures. There were anonymous. There was no personally identifiable information in the recordings so that people couldn't stalk each other.

My experiment lasted for 30 days. I was just so amazed by the power of voice, and the acceleration of intimacy that happened through my experiment.

I proceeded to chronicle this experience… so I wrote about a few pairs, the connections that formed, and the lessons that I learned in a podcast.

It's a six episode podcast called It’s Nice To Hear You about the experiment, a few people, and my personal journey.

So check it out, available wherever podcasts can be heard. It's Nice To Hear You.

Get your idea on an episode of How Cool Is This?

Brian: Nick, how cool is Heather's idea, It’s Nice To Hear You?

Nick: Any idea that's voice-only is a really cool idea.

Brian: Haven't we said that podcasts aren't that cool?

Nick: But the idea of using voice as the only medium, depriving people of those other senses like scent and sight, I think is really interesting. It's just different.

Brian: It's cool to have a podcast that's more than a podcast. She's making a community of people who are finding love.

Nick: Creating a podcast that chronicles something that has proven to be cool is cool.

Brian: It is always cool when you're able to find two people who are looking for each other and put them together.

Nick: Nothing's cooler than love, baby.

Brian: It is nice that she did something cool out of an uncool situation, which was getting laid off and being in the middle of a crazy pandemic.

Nick: Everyone that was just able to stay alive through this did all that you needed to do, but it is really cool to see someone that took this setback, this period of adversity, and used it to create something that helped other people.

Brian: There is a six-episode podcast where we'll find out just how much it did help… because I think some people found the situation cool, and for others, dating generally is a pretty uncool experience.

Nick: Not everybody that entered into this voice-only dating system had a positive result. So, I do wonder if you create something that might've caused some people pain, then was that a cool thing?

Brian: I think it's still cool. How cool is the name? It’s Nice To Hear You.

Nick: I think that's a very cool name. It sounds like a more warm, welcoming experience than maybe some other dating apps like Bumble or Tinder.

Brian: Yeah, it's classy. It's familiar because it's like, ‘it's nice to meet you,’ but you're hearing… You know, I don't need to explain it. Everybody gets it. And that's what makes it cool.

Nick:, Anytime you have to explain your idea more than necessary, it's probably not a cool idea.

Brian: What's the coolest sense that could have been singled out for dating? Like, theoretically, all these dating apps are sight-only.

Nick: Do you think there should be a smell-only dating app? Maybe it's like speed dating, but you show up and you’re blindfolded and have earplugs in… and all you can do is smell the person across the table from you.

Brian: I might end up falling in love with a batch of roses.

Nick: It could be a thorny situation.

Brian: Going back to when you asked if there were people who had some heartbreak as a result of this experiment and whether that makes it less cool… in a way it does, but it also gave them a distraction.

Nick: Instead of thinking about whether or not they might die, they were just thinking about whether or not they said something awkward in their last voice message.

Brian: It’s not cool to overthink what you've said, but at the same time, that means that you are feeling really excited about the person you're talking to.

Nick: If you can feel excited about someone only by trading voice messages back and forth, that's pretty cool.

Brian: If you want to send us a voice memo of an idea, we would love to feature it on an upcoming episode. Our number is 848-863-9917.

Send a voice memo to someone you love, or someone you want to love. Unless it’s not wanted, in which case… don’t? Be cool about it.

Listen to a 5 minute episode of How Cool Is This? on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else you find podcasts.