Data sonification

Data sonification is the presentation of data as sound using sonification. It is the auditory equivalent of the more established practice of data visualization.

Process

The usual process for data sonification is directing digital media of a dataset through a software synthesizer and into a digital-to-analog converter to produce sound for humans to experience.^[1]^[2]^[3] Benefits to interpreting data through sonificaiton include accessibility, pattern recognition, education, and artistic expression.^[4]

Applications

Applications of data sonification include astronomy studies of star creation,^[5] interpreting cluster analysis,^[6] and geoscience.^[7] Various projects describe the production of sonifications as a collaboration between scientists and musicians.^[8]^[4]^[9]

A target demographic for using data sonification is the blind community because of the inaccessibility of data visualizations.^[10]

One of the earliest examples of data sonificaiton is the Geiger counter, which measures ionizing radiation through sound.^[11] Another notable example of data sonfication is NASA's processing of images from space telescopes into sounds.^[12]

References

^ Kaper, H.G.; Wiebel, E.; Tipei, S. (1999). "Data sonification and sound visualization". Computing in Science & Engineering. 1 (4): 48–58. arXiv:cs/0007007. Bibcode:1999CSE.....1d..48K. doi:10.1109/5992.774840. S2CID 8087002.
^ Madhyastha, Tara; Reed, Daniel (1995). "Data sonification: Do you see what I hear". IEEE Software. 12 (2): 45–56. doi:10.1109/52.368264.
^ Scaletti, Carla (2018-02-05). Dean, Roger T.; McLean, Alex (eds.). Sonification ≠ Music. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190226992.013.9.
^ ^a ^b Maroune, Dr Manil Maskey and Abdelhak (2023-04-28). "From Data to Melody: Data Sonification and Its Role in Open Science | Earthdata". www.earthdata.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
^ Guglielmi, Giorgia (21 July 2017). "Meet the scientist who turns data into music—and listen to the sound of a neutron star". Science.
^ Hermann, T; Ritter, H (1999). "Listen to your Data: Model-Based Sonification for Data Analysis". Advances in intelligent computation and multimedia systems. International Institute for Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics. ISBN 0-921836-80-5.
^ Romans, Brian (11 April 2007). "Data Sonification". Wired.
^ Beans, Carolyn (1 May 2017). "Science and Culture: Musicians join scientists to explore data through sound". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 114 (18): 4563–4565. Bibcode:2017PNAS..114.4563B. doi:10.1073/pnas.1705325114. PMC 5422826. PMID 28461386.
^ Middleton, Jonathan; Hakulinen, Jaakko; Tiitinen, Katariina; Hella, Juho; Keskinen, Tuuli; Huuskonen, Pertti; Culver, Jeffrey; Linna, Juhani; Turunen, Markku; Ziat, Mounia; Raisamo, Roope (2023-08-10). "Data-to-music sonification and user engagement". Frontiers in Big Data. 6. doi:10.3389/fdata.2023.1206081. ISSN 2624-909X. PMC 10448511. PMID 37636320.
^ Zhao, Haixia; Plaisant, Catherine; Shneiderman, Ben; Lazar, Jonathan (1 May 2008). "Data Sonification for Users with Visual Impairment". ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction. 15 (1): 1–28. doi:10.1145/1352782.1352786. S2CID 17199537.
^ "What is Sonification - Accessible Oceans". Accessible Oceans - what is sonificaition. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ "Sonifications - NASA Science". science.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2024-05-30.

Further media

Kramer, Gregory, ed. (1994). Auditory display : sonification, audification, and auditory interfaces. Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0201626049.

External links

Sounds of the Sea at NASA.gov
Data sonification archive - See (and hear) several examples of data sonificaiton
Data sonificaiton toolkit from the University of Santa Cruz

[1] Kaper, H.G.; Wiebel, E.; Tipei, S. (1999). "Data sonification and sound visualization". Computing in Science & Engineering. 1 (4): 48–58. arXiv:cs/0007007. Bibcode:1999CSE.....1d..48K. doi:10.1109/5992.774840. S2CID 8087002.

[2] Madhyastha, Tara; Reed, Daniel (1995). "Data sonification: Do you see what I hear". IEEE Software. 12 (2): 45–56. doi:10.1109/52.368264.

[3] Scaletti, Carla (2018-02-05). Dean, Roger T.; McLean, Alex (eds.). Sonification ≠ Music. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190226992.013.9.

[:0-4] Maroune, Dr Manil Maskey and Abdelhak (2023-04-28). "From Data to Melody: Data Sonification and Its Role in Open Science | Earthdata". www.earthdata.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2024-05-30.

[5] Guglielmi, Giorgia (21 July 2017). "Meet the scientist who turns data into music—and listen to the sound of a neutron star". Science.

[6] Hermann, T; Ritter, H (1999). "Listen to your Data: Model-Based Sonification for Data Analysis". Advances in intelligent computation and multimedia systems. International Institute for Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics. ISBN 0-921836-80-5.

[7] Romans, Brian (11 April 2007). "Data Sonification". Wired.

[8] Beans, Carolyn (1 May 2017). "Science and Culture: Musicians join scientists to explore data through sound". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 114 (18): 4563–4565. Bibcode:2017PNAS..114.4563B. doi:10.1073/pnas.1705325114. PMC 5422826. PMID 28461386.

[9] Middleton, Jonathan; Hakulinen, Jaakko; Tiitinen, Katariina; Hella, Juho; Keskinen, Tuuli; Huuskonen, Pertti; Culver, Jeffrey; Linna, Juhani; Turunen, Markku; Ziat, Mounia; Raisamo, Roope (2023-08-10). "Data-to-music sonification and user engagement". Frontiers in Big Data. 6. doi:10.3389/fdata.2023.1206081. ISSN 2624-909X. PMC 10448511. PMID 37636320.

[10] Zhao, Haixia; Plaisant, Catherine; Shneiderman, Ben; Lazar, Jonathan (1 May 2008). "Data Sonification for Users with Visual Impairment". ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction. 15 (1): 1–28. doi:10.1145/1352782.1352786. S2CID 17199537.

[11] "What is Sonification - Accessible Oceans". Accessible Oceans - what is sonificaition. Retrieved May 30, 2024.

[12] "Sonifications - NASA Science". science.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2024-05-30.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]