What is Sonification?
Data sonification is the process of translating data patterns into sound patterns. Historically, data sonification has roots in various fields, including meteorology, where it was used to interpret weather data, and in astronomy, for analyzing signals from space. The evolution of this technique reflects a growing interest in alternative data representation methods, especially in fields where visual representation is limited or less effective.
Data sonification is rapidly gaining traction across various disciplines. In environmental science, it’s being used to make climate change data more comprehensible, while in space science, it helps interpret astronomical data. Technological strides in AI and real-time data processing are enhancing sonification’s accuracy and immediacy. This approach is not just for scientists; it’s merging with the arts to create unique performances and is being integrated into educational tools to simplify complex topics for learners. Its impact in human-computer interaction is significant too, with applications in designing sound-based interfaces, especially beneficial for those who are blind or low-vision. Moreover, in financial markets, sonification is emerging as a tool to understand fluctuating trends such as unemployment rates. Its use in cybersecurity, to monitor networks through sound highlights its continuously evolving potential.
Essentially, data sonification is opening up new ways for researchers and audiences alike to understand and interact with the world around us, making it an exciting field to watch.
Why Sonify?
Sonification allows you to engage a different sense (hearing) to interpret data. It harnesses our brain’s auditory senses to detect patterns or anomalies that might be overlooked visually or textually. From a disability studies perspective, it can also make data more accessible to blind and low-vision individuals, making sonification a useful alternative to conventional modes of data representation.
While the primary focus of emerging scholarly fields like digital humanities has been to visualize humanities data, the possibility of generating new “insounds” from that same data has generally been left unexplored.
Sonification’s deployment as a means of adding a new dimension to data analysis may yet lead to its increased adoption as an integral part of data studies and their presentations.
Okay I’m convinced. So how do I get started? This guide will take you step-by-step through the process of sonifying data, using our own data as an illustrative example.
Understanding Sonification as a Method: Insights from Our Study
Sonification as Provocation and Interrogation: In our study, sonification is positioned as a method for critical digital humanities, capable of provoking further interrogation and recontextualization of dominant narratives. For anyone using sonification as a data translation and communication technique, this underscores the potential of sonification to transform data into a medium for storytelling and critical examination beyond traditional analysis.
Design-Oriented Approach: Emphasizing aesthetic choices in the sonification process suggests that how information is sonified (the selection of sounds, the arrangement, and the overall soundscape) plays a crucial role in how the resulting narrative is perceived and understood. This means we need to think carefully about our design decisions.
Practical Insights for Creating Sonifications
“Uneasy Listening” and Causal Listening: The concept of “uneasy listening” implies that sonification should engage listeners on a corporeal level, making them feel the data’s implications physically or emotionally. Coupled with Michel Chion’s concept of causal listening, it suggests that sounds chosen for sonification should ideally have a discernible link to the data or phenomena they represent, making the sonification both impactful and understandable.
Intentionality in Sound Selection: The intentional selection of sounds to represent data, whether they are indexical sounds (sounds directly associated with the subject, like a computer beep for digital data) or more abstract representations, is crucial. This approach helps to establish a connection between the sonification and the listener’s experience or expectations.
Addressing the “Mapping Problem”: Our use case highlights the challenge of mapping non-sonorous data (like data breaches) to sound. The importance of creative and thoughtful mapping of data points to sound attributes such as pitch, rhythm, timbre, etc., to convey the intended narrative or analysis is also underlined.
Provoking New Perspectives: The ultimate goal of sonification is to provoke new perspectives and facilitate a dynamic understanding of the subject matter. This suggests that sonification should aim not just to represent data audibly but to challenge and expand the audience’s understanding of the data.
Execution of Sonification Projects
Exploring Aesthetic Choices: Experiment with different sounds to represent various aspects of your data. Consider how abstract sounds versus more literal sounds (like those associated with digital actions) might affect the listener’s understanding and emotional response.
Iterative Development: Be prepared to iterate on your sonification. Listening and adjusting based on feedback is crucial to refining the sonification and making it more effective in conveying the intended message.
Collaboration and Feedback: Engaging with others, both for technical collaboration and for feedback on the sonification’s effectiveness, can provide valuable insights and improve the final outcome.
The data we used is available here if you want to play around with it in Two-Tone yourself.
Here we go!