What is data sonification?

Simply put, data sonification is the practice of taking data and representing it in the form of sound. Just as data visualization uses shapes, color, size, and composition to represent data visually, data sonification uses volume, pitch, timbre, rhythm, duration, and more to represent data sonically.

There are plenty of examples from our daily lives where information is conveyed through audio: ○ Nagging beep of a credit card chip reader — "remove your card!" 💬 ○ Wailing alarm from a smoke detector — "smoke!" 🚨 ○ Booming clang of a bell tower on the hour — "it's 4 o'clock!" 🕓

Sonification takes this further — it allows us to hear patterns in complex data, and consume information in a new and interesting way.

Not convinced? Check out these examples:

The New York Times: "Nine Rounds a Second: How the Las Vegas Gunman Outfitted a Rifle to Fire Faster"

NPR's Planet Money: "U.S. Home Prices, Sung As Opera"

Marketplace: "What sound does a volatile stock market make?"

More explanations... Jordan Wirfs-Brock gives a great explanation of data sonification. The Sonification Handbook (2011) provides a definition of data sonification.

Approaches to Sonification

The most common types of data sonification are parameter mapping and audification

• Parameter mapping matches values in a data set to different dimensions of audio.

• Audification takes data which in original form is not audible to the human ear, and manipulates it so that it can be heard.

Data visualization and sonification can combine to create audio-visual representations of data. You can make a chart audible, like in this audiochart of the Global Living Planet Index.

There are several data sonification methods and tools you can use to sonify data. You might use an algorithmic tool, or you might manually compose audio to reflect data (i.e. “punk” sonification). You can even use a combination of these approaches. Sonification can also be performed in person. It's a modality that offers many avenues for creativity, and many ways to capture an audience's curiosity.

Auditory Display

Sonification is part of a bigger category called auditory display, which simply refers to the communication of information through audio. This is can be found in interactive interfaces, appliances, devices, and beyond.

Examples include the radio display inside a car, voice assistant technologies, the tune that a washing machine sings when it’s done washing clothes, and so on. Data sonification is a subset of auditory display which refers specifically to communicating data through sound.