Any measurable data can be rendered as sound to enable rapid pattern exploration

Evidence

The underlying principle behind sonification is to take advantage of the perceptual processing power of the human hearing system to detect changes in or relationships between measured data sets. A key element of success in this process is deciding on the mapping between the measured data and the final audio signal. Ideally, the mapping should take advantage of changes in the audio signal that are going to be obvious to the listener; pitch, loudness and timbre are three potential candidates. But consideration must also be given to the signal itself, since (a) it might be the raw data itself, perhaps with the sampling rate being changed to place it within the human hearing range (data can be captured at any sampling rate, which could be well below or above what is audible, such as weather data that might be captured once every 24 hours or engine telemetry data that might be captured once every microsecond), or (b) the measured data could be used to change a feature of the sound to be used such as its pitch, vibrato, loudness or a filter setting. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 2690 (#expands, via linked claim)

This provides a method for visualizing timbral differences between instruments which is based on critical band analysis. It also provides a particular representation which gives an insight as to the nature of the patterns which could be used to represent timbral differences perceptually. — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1514 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Sonification maps measured data onto audible changes exploiting auditory perception — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 2690; Timbral differences between instruments can be plotted dynamically through critical bands — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1514; Big Data logic rejects theory-driven hypothesis testing in favor of raw pattern extraction — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 394

Broader Connections

• Sonification maps measured data onto audible changes exploiting auditory perception #expands (0.95) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 2690
• Timbral differences between instruments can be plotted dynamically through critical bands #exemplifies (0.80) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1514