Sonification, Science and Popular Music: In search of the ‘wow’

Abstract

Sonification is described as an under-utilised dimension of the ‘wow!’ factor in science engagement multi-media. It is suggested that sonification's potential value, like much of the scientific visualisation content, probably lies less in hard facts and more in how it may serve as a stimulant for curiosity. Sound is described as a multi-dimensional phenomenon, and a number of approaches to creating sonifications are reviewed. Design strategies are described for five types of phenomena that were sonified for works created by cosmologist George Smoot III and percussionist/ethnomusicologist Mickey Hart, most particularly for their filmRhythms of the Universe(Hart and Smoot 2013).

Is Sonification Doomed to Fail?

“…Audification, auditory icons, earcons, parameter mapping, and model-based sonification all have strengths and weaknesses. Their collective promise has led to somewhat of a public fascination with the idea of sonification and a relentless sense of optimism within the sonification research community [7,8]. Unfortunately, sonification is more often viewed by the public as an entertaining curiosity than as a scientific tool for understanding data [9].…”

“…The shift in focus might also enhance the role that sonification plays in generating enthusiasm for science both with the public. For example, Ballora [7] has suggested that despite concerted efforts to sonify data empirically, "sonification's potential value, like much of the scientific visualisation content, probably lies less in hard facts and more in how it may serve as a stimulant for curiosity." Shift Toward Empirical Sonification.…”

Sonifying Data: For the Art, for the Science and for What Lies Between

“…The collaborations that Grateful Dead percussionist, ethnomusicologist and contemporary Pythagorean Mickey Hart forms with leading scientists, as well as his frequent use of sonifications, frame science as something that can be heard as well as viewed. My work creating sonifications for his events has offered me valuable opportunities to bridge the middle ground between the auditory sublime and the scientifically valid [10]. I have created these sonifications with the same types of data preparation and sound synthesis that are used for creating work meant as science pedagogy [11][12][13][14].…”

A Sonification of the zCOSMOS Galaxy Dataset

“…The idea of bridging the gap between art and science in the context of scientific dissemination and "edutainment" initiatives has been explored in a number of works. An interesting point of view is reported in [6]: according to the author, sonification, as opposed to visualisation, is still an under-utilised element of the "wow" factor of science.…”