Sonification

Locomotive Horns: Influence of Position and Sound Characteristics on Effectiveness

by Frank Russo

English, G. W., Russo, F. A., Moore, T. N., Lantz, M. E., & Schwier, C. (2004). Locomotive horns: Influence of position and sound characteristics on effectiveness. Proceedings of the 8th International Level Crossing Symposium, Sheffield, U.K.

Creating accessible bitmapped graphs for the internet

by Jacopo Staiano

Whither and wherefore the auditory graph? Abstractions and aesthetics in auditory and sonified graphs

by Paul Vickers

The well-tempered compiler: The aesthetics of program auralization

by Paul Vickers

External auditory representations of programs: Past, present, and future-an aesthetic perspective

by Paul Vickers

Musical program auralization: Empirical studies

by Paul Vickers

The caitlin auralization system: Hierarchical leitmotif design as a clue to program comprehension

by Paul Vickers

Towards some organising principles for musical program auralisations

by Paul Vickers

Musical program auralisation: a structured approach to motif design

by Paul Vickers

Using music as a communication medium

by Paul Vickers

Siren songs and swan songs debugging with music

by Paul Vickers

Musical program auralisation: Empirical studies

by Paul Vickers

Using music to communicate computing information

by Paul Vickers

Songs of cyberspace: an update on sonifications of network traffic to support situational awareness

by Nicklaus Giacobe

Graphics and user's exploration via simple sonics (GUESS): Providing interrelational representation of objects in a non-visual environment

by Patrick Roth

Personify: a Toolkit for Perceptually Meaningful Sonification

by stephen barrass

Stephen Barrass (1995) Personify: a Toolkit for Perceptually Meaningful Sonification, Proceedings of the Australian Conference on Computer Music (ACMA), Australian National UNiversity, July, 1995.

People naturally use their hearing to obtain information to support their everyday activities. Sonification is the... more People naturally use their hearing to obtain information to support their everyday activities. Sonification is the application of hearing to support computer based information processing tasks where numerical or other data replaces the environment as a source of sounds. Turning numbers into sounds is easy with current music technology. But creating intuitive and informative sonification mappings is not. The auditory display of scientific data requires consideration of the task at hand, an understanding of data characteristics, and an expert knowledge of psychoacoustics. The display designer must depend on experience, a few heuristic guidelines, patience and luck - this is why successful examples are rare.
Personify is a suite of software tools which enable a non-expert to quickly and easily craft meaningful and effective sonifications. Interaction with these tools is focused on what a person hears, rather than on how a device makes sounds. The toolkit provides a systematic framework which consists of a number of data sensitive mapping techniques based on a perceptually linearised sound space. The user is able to select sequences in the sound space using geometric paths such as lines, spirals and planes. Constrained guidance embodies the expert knowledge in the system.
This paper will describe the Personify toolkit, its purpose, theoretical foundation, the component tools, and the multimedia user interface.
Keywords: Sonification, auditory display, perceptual psychology, visualisation, human-computer interface

SoniPy: The Design of An Extendable Software Framework for Sonification Research and Auditory Display

by stephen barrass

A Naturally Ordered Geometric Model of Sound Inspired by Colour Theory

by stephen barrass

presented at the Australian Computer Music Conference at the Australian National University in Canberra, 1994

Abstract
The hue, saturation, lightness (HSL) colour model is an intuitive interface for interaction with the... more Abstract
The hue, saturation, lightness (HSL) colour model is an intuitive interface for interaction with the millions of colours which are available in high quality colour processes. This interface makes it possible to specify colours in a natural manner, to manipulate the subjective dimensions of colour independently, to use geometric paths to specify ordered sequences of colours, and to use a system which does not depend on a particular colour output device.

This paper proposes a naturally ordered geometric model of sound, derived from considerations of the form and properties of the HSL colour model. The recognition that both hue and timbre are categorical perceptions is the link which allows the creation of a cycle of timbres which mimics the hue circle. There is no consistent ordering of timbre but it is hypothesised that a subset of timbres may be arranged in a circle by a pair of underlying perceptual axes. The Timbre Circle, in which the most similar timbres are adjacent, and the most dissimilar lie diagonally opposite, is investigated by implementing several such sequences based on dimensions of timbre identified in the psychoacoustic research studies of von Bismarck, Slawson and Grey. A complex timbre attribute consisting of a spectral and temporal component is proposed as the basis for an extension of the Timbre Circle with an independent naturally ordered radial component to form the Timbre Wheel. Brightness is identified in many timbre spaces as the most important aspect, and has been shown to have a perceptual metric. An example of a Timbre Wheel in which brightness is the radial component is implemented and various sequences such as a diagonal and a spiral are used to confirm perceptible ordering and smooth transition through the centre which supports the polar geometry. The sound model is completed by choosing pitch over loudness as a vertical axis, analogous with the lightness axis in the colour model. The result is called the Timbre, Brightness, Pitch (TBP) sound model. The generality of the model is demonstrated by fitting Gaver’s “everyday” synthesis algorithm within the framework.

The TBP sound model is illustrated with a SoundChooser graphical user interface similar to the colour chooser found in many colour applications.

Keywords Colour, Sound, Perception, Synaesthesia, User Interface

Sonification of Samba dance using periodic pattern analysis

by Luiz Naveda

Naveda, L. and Leman, M. (2008). Sonification of samba dance using periodic pattern analysis. In Barbosa, A., editor, ARTECH 2008. 4th International Conference on Digital Arts, pages 16–26, Porto, Portugal. Universidade Cat ́olica Portuguesa.

— In this study we focus on the sonification of
Samba dance, using a multi-modal analysis-by-synthesismore — In this study we focus on the sonification of
Samba dance, using a multi-modal analysis-by-synthesis
approach. In the analysis we use periodic pattern analysis to
decompose the Samba dance movements into basic
movement gestures along the music’s metric layers. In the
synthesis we start from the basic movement gestures and
extract peaks and valleys, which we use as basic material for
the sonification. This leads to a matrix of repetitive dance
gestures from which we select the proper cues that trigger
samples of a Samba ensemble. The straightforward
sonification procedure suggests that Samba rhythms may be
mirrored in choreographic forms or vice-versa.
Index Terms — Samba music, Periodic structures,

Physical Sonification Dataforms

by stephen barrass

Physical Sonification Dataforms are physical objects constructed from digital datasets to produce sounds. This paper... more Physical Sonification Dataforms are physical objects constructed from digital datasets to produce sounds. This paper reports on a series of three experiments that establish and verify the theory of Physical Sonification. This experiments use the HRTF data provided as a sonification challenge at ICAD 2011. The dataset is a spatial array of spectral filters measured from the left and right ears of a dummy head. The proof of concept is a coin-like metal disc cnstructed from the data that can be struck or scraped to produce a sound. The second iteration is shaped like a bell to produce a more sustained and pitched sound. The third experiment compares a Control with Test Bells constructed from left and right HRTFs. The timbre of the Control is categorically different from the Left and Right Bells which are strangely dissonant. Spectrograms of the Left and Right Bells show a superposition of doubled harmonics. These results suggest that the sound of the Bell could characterize a HRTF dataset in a way that could be useful for classification and recognition of HRTF datasets from different people.