Sonification maps sensor data onto sound synthesis to convey information audibly.

Evidence

Sonification involves making use of data derived from sensors or other data, mapping these data onto a sound synthesis procedure and then diffusing the sound over one or more loudspeakers or perhaps headphones. … The synthesis stage might have multiple elements with the mapped inputs being used to control various aspects of the synthesis. Synthesizing sounds for the sonification of data therefore has much potentially in common with music analysis and synthesis techniques as well as methods used in speech processing and synthesis, and many sonification schemes make use of such techniques to create their outputs. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 2694

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines sonification as a three-stage process: data sourcing, sonification mapping, and loudspeaker or headphone diffusion.
• XREF: Connects to sonification and auditory-display design literature and to the reader’s interest in how sound carries meaning beyond music.