The Sonification Lab: Papers, Presentations, and Publications


ICAD 2003: Sonification of absolute values with single and multiple dimensions. (PDF) By Aniko Sandor and David M. Lane

Although auditory displays are effective for the representation of patterns in data, they are generally thought to be less effective for the communication of absolute values [1, 2]. Nonetheless, there are times when it is desirable to represent absolute values with sound. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the limits of representing absolute values with sound and to compare several ways of representing the values. Temporal representations of data led to better performance than the representation with pitch or the redundant use of temporal and pitch representations. We introduce the term “Mappable Difference” to refer to the smallest difference in a dimension that can be consistently mapped to a numeric value. Knowing the “Mappable Difference” in an auditory dimension can potentially aid display designers in determining the number of absolute values that can be represented by sound.

 

ICAD 2003: Sonification of statistical graphs. (PDF) By S. Camille Peres and David M. Lane

Two experiments are presented that compare the effectiveness of different parameters of sound for the auditory presentation of box plots. Temporal mapping was found to be better than pitch or panning mapping. In the first experiment, the mapping condition that used two dimensions (the redundant condition) did not result in a better performance than those mappings that used one dimension. However, subjects showed a strong preference for the redundant condition. Finally, subjects’ overall level was not very high and performance did not increase with practice as much as might have been expected.

Sonification. Entry in Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction. (PDF) By David M. Lane, Aniko Sandor, and Camille Peres

Sonification is the representation of information by non-speech sound. It is useful for helping detect patterns in complex data, presenting information in “eyes-busy” situations, in situations in which visual displays are not available, and for helping to make information available to the visually impaired.

ICAD 2001: Psychophysical scaling of sonification mappings: A comparision of visually impaired and sighted listeners. (PDF) By Bruce N. Walker and David M. Lane

Magnitude estimation was used to determine preferred data-to-display mappings, polarities, and psychophysical scaling functions relating data values (like temperature) to underlying acoustic parameters (like pitch, tempo, or spectral brightness) for blind and visually impaired listeners. The resulting polarities and scaling functions were compared to findings with sighted participants. [PDF format]

 

Sonification Mappings Database on the Web

This online database contains references to, and the description of studies or applications where sound has been used to represent data. Of particular interest is how the data is mapped to the sound. You can search for specific scientific areas, data dimensions, display dimensions, or other elements in the bibliographic reference to the study (author, title, etc.). You may also add references to works not already cited.

 

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