# Audification

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{{Short description|Technique for representing data as sound}}
'''Audification''' is an [auditory display](/source/auditory_display) technique for representing a sequence of data values as sound. By definition, it is described as a "direct translation of a data waveform to the audible domain."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The Oxford Handbook of Computer Music|last=Dean|first=Roger|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=9780195331615|location=New York|pages=321}}</ref> Audification interprets a data sequence and usually a [time series](/source/time_series), as an audio [waveform](/source/waveform) where input data are mapped to [sound pressure](/source/sound_pressure) levels. Various [signal processing](/source/signal_processing) techniques are used to assess data features. The technique allows the listener to hear periodic components as frequencies. Audification typically requires large data sets with periodic components.<ref>{{Citation|author1=Hermann, T.|title=Sound and meaning in auditory data display|url=http://www.dei.unipd.it/~musica/IM/P6_Hermann_04.pdf|journal=Proceedings of the IEEE|volume=92|number=4|pages=730–741|year=2004|publisher=IEEE|doi=10.1109/jproc.2004.825904|name-list-style=amp|author2=Ritter, H.|bibcode=2004IEEEP..92..730H |s2cid=12354787}}
</ref>

Audification is most commonly applied to get the most direct and simple representation of data from sound and to convert it into a visual. In most cases it will always be used for taking sounds and breaking it down in a way that we can visually understand it and construct more data from it.

== History  ==
{{context|date=June 2019}} The idea of audification was introduced in 1992 by Greg Kramer, initially as a [sonification](/source/sonification) technique. This was the beginning of audification, but is also why most people to this day still consider audification a type of sonification. 

The goal of audification is to allow the listener to audibly experience the results of scientific measurements or simulations.

A 2007 study by Sandra Pauletto and Andy Hunt at the [University of York](/source/University_of_York) suggested that users were able to detect attributes such as noise, repetitive elements, regular oscillations, discontinuities, and signal power in audification of time-series data to a degree comparable with visual inspection of [spectrograms](/source/spectrograms).<ref>{{Citation |
	title = A comparison of audio & visual analysis of complex time-series data sets|
	journal = Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD2005)|
	editor = Brazil, Eoin|
	year = 2005|
	pages = 175–181|
	url = http://www.icad.org/Proceedings/2005/PaulettoHunt2005.pdf|author1=Pauletto, S.  |author2=Hunt, A. |name-list-style=amp }}
</ref> 

== Applications ==
Applications include audification of seismic data<ref>{{Citation |	
title = Using audification in planetary seismology|
	journal = Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD2001)|editor1=Hiipakka, J. |editor2=Zacharov, N. |editor3=Takala, T. |
	year = 2001|
	pages = 227–230|
	url = http://www.icad.org/Proceedings/2001/Dombois2001.pdf|
	author = Dombois, Florian }}
</ref> and of human neurophysiological signals.<ref>{{Citation
 |title=Easy listening to sleep recordings: tools and examples 
 |author=Olivan, J. 
 |author2=Kemp, B. 
 |author3=Roessen, M. 
 |name-list-style=amp 
 |journal=Sleep Medicine 
 |volume=5 
 |number=6 
 |pages=601–603 
 |year=2004 
 |url=http://www.hsr.nl/bobkemp/papers/2004Easy%20listeningToSleep.pdf 
 |doi=10.1016/j.sleep.2004.07.010 
 |pmid=15511709 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425141834/http://www.hsr.nl/bobkemp/papers/2004Easy%20listeningToSleep.pdf 
 |archive-date=2012-04-25 
}}
</ref> An example is the esophageal [stethoscope](/source/stethoscope), which amplifies naturally occurring sound without conveying inherently noiseless variables such as the result of gas analysis.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Advanced Patient Monitoring Displays: Tools for Continuous Informing|last1=Sanderson|first1=Penelope|last2=Watson|first2=Marcus|date=2005|journal=Anesthesia and Analgesia|last3=Russell|first3=W. John|s2cid=18818792|volume=101|issue=1|pages=161-8, table of contents|doi=10.1213/01.ANE.0000154080.67496.AE|pmid=15976225|doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Medicine ===
Converting [ultrasound](/source/ultrasound) to audible sound is a form of audification that provides a form of echolocation.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Davies |first1=T. Claire |last2=Pinder |first2=Shane D. |last3=Dodd |first3=George |last4=Burns |first4=Catherine M. |title=Where did that sound come from? Comparing the ability to localise using audification and audition |journal=Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology |date=March 2012 |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=130–138 |doi=10.3109/17483107.2011.602172 |pmid=21923566 |hdl=2292/37810 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Audification of Ultrasound for Human Echolocation|last=Davies|first=Clare|publisher=Clare Davies|year=2008}}</ref> Other uses in the medical field include the [stethoscope](/source/stethoscope)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.maximintegrated.com/en/app-notes/index.mvp/id/4694|title=Introduction to Digital Stethoscopes and Electrical Component Selection Criteria - Tutorial - Maxim|website=www.maximintegrated.com|access-date=2019-05-07}}</ref> and the audification of an [EEG](/source/Electroencephalography).<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Temko|first1=A.|last2=Marnane|first2=W.|last3=Boylan|first3=G.|last4=O'Toole|first4=J. M.|last5=Lightbody|first5=G.|title=2014 36th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society |chapter=Neonatal EEG audification for seizure detection |date=August 2014|volume=2014|pages=4451–4454|doi=10.1109/EMBC.2014.6944612|pmid=25570980|isbn=978-1-4244-7929-0|s2cid=18784120}}</ref>

=== Music  ===
The development of [electronic music](/source/electronic_music) can also be considered the history of audification. This is because all electronic instruments involve electric process audified using a loudspeaker.

=== Seismology ===
Audification is of interest for research into Auditory Seismology. It is used in earthquake prediction.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sos.allshookup.org/|title=Sounds of Seismic - Earth System Soundscape|website=sos.allshookup.org|access-date=2019-05-07}}</ref> Applications include using seismic data to differentiate bomb blasts from [earthquakes](/source/earthquakes).<ref name=":0" />

The technique presents sound waves of earthquakes alongside a visual representation. The addition of audio allows both the eye and ears to contribute to better understanding.

=== NASA ===
NASA has used audification to represent radio and plasma wave<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Scarf|first1=F. L.|last2=Gurnett|first2=D. A.|last3=Kurth|first3=W. S.|last4=Coroniti|first4=F. V.|last5=Kennel|first5=C. F.|last6=Poynter|first6=R. L.|date=1987|title=Plasma wave measurements in the magnetosphere of Uranus|journal=Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics|volume=92|issue=A13|pages=15217–15224|doi=10.1029/JA092iA13p15217|bibcode=1987JGR....9215217S|issn=2156-2202}}</ref> measurements.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://legacy.spa.aalto.fi/icad2001/proceedings/papers/dombois.pdf|title=Using Audification in planetary seismology|last=Dombois|first=Florian|website=Legacy}}</ref>

== Sonification ==
Both sonification and audification are representational techniques in which data sets or its selected features are mapped into audio signals.<ref>{{Cite arXiv|title=Direct Segmented Sonification of Characteristic Features of the Data Domain|last1=Vickers|first1=Paul|last2=Holdrich|first2=Robert|date=December 2017 |eprint = 1711.11368|class = cs.HC}}</ref> However, audification is a kind of [sonification](/source/sonification), a term which encompasses all techniques for representing data in non-speech audio.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} Their relationship can be demonstrated in the way data values in some sonifications that directly define audio signals are called audification.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Aesthetics of Scientific Data Representation: More than Pretty Pictures|last1=Philipsen|first1=Lotte|last2=Kjærgaard|first2=Rikke|publisher=Routledge|year=2018|isbn=9781138679375|location=New York}}</ref>{{Clarification|reason=|date=July 2019}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

Category:Multimodal interaction
Category:Display technology
Category:Auditory displays
Category:User interface techniques

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Audification](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audification) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audification?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.