# 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:\
β Nagging beep of a credit card chip reader β "remove your card!" π¬\
β Wailing alarm from a smoke detector β "smoke!" π¨\
β Booming clang of a bell tower on the hour β "it's 4 o'clock!" π
Sonification takes this further β it allows us to hear patterns in complex data, and consume information in a new and interesting way.
Not convinced? Check out these examples:
More explanations...\
Jordan Wirfs-Brock gives a great [**explanation of data sonification**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARjgKuFyXE8\&t=220s).\
The Sonification Handbook (2011) provides a [**definition of data sonification**](https://sonification.de/handbook/).
**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.
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These approaches are further elaborated in the [**Methods**](https://www.sonificationkit.com/data-sonification/methods) section.
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Data visualization and sonification can combine to create **audio-visual** representations of data. You can make a chart audible, like in this [audiochart](https://awalmer.github.io/rji-fellowship/article1_highcharts/root/index.html) of the Global Living Planet Index.
There are several data sonification [**methods**](https://www.sonificationkit.com/data-sonification/methods) and [**tools**](https://www.sonificationkit.com/data-sonification/tools) you can use to sonify data. You might use an algorithmic tool, or you might manually compose audio to reflect data (i.e. [βpunkβ sonification](https://www.sonificationkit.com/methods#manual-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 itβs done washing clothes, and so on. Data sonification is a subset of auditory display which refers specifically to *communicating data* through sound.
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