The sonification space: A reference system for sonification tasks

Sonification is a fairly new term to scientists who are unaware of its multiple use cases. Even if some general definitions of the concept of sonification are commonly accepted, heterogeneous techniques – significantly different as it regards approaches, means and goals – are available. In this work we propose a reference system useful to interpret already-existing sonification instances and to plan new sonification tasks. This work aims to present a reference system for sonification using the inherent properties in the sonic output rather than the data itself. Validation has been conducted by automatically analyzing available experiments and examples, and placing them on the proposed sonification space, according to time-granularity and abstraction-level dimensions. This work can constitute the starting point for future research on computer-assisted sonification. It will be beneficial to a wide range of readers, in particular those from different disciplines looking at new ways to present and analyze data.     

Cosmic ray sonification: the COSMOPHONE

The Cosmophone is an attempt to show the close connections existing between the infinitely small and the infinitely large in sensory terms by detecting and imaging the continuous flow of elementary particles (cosmic rays) originating from our entire galaxy.     

Soundscape, sonification, and sound activism

In this article, the author will argue that the act of listening through public soundwalks and other formal and informal exercises builds environmental and social awareness and promotes changes in social and cultural practices. By examining the act of listening as an alternative pathway and comparing the research, writings, and creative work of leaders of the acoustic ecology movement (i.e., R. Murray Schafer, Hildegard Westerkamp, and Bernie Krause), the author hopes to shed light on these potentials. For purposes of comparison, projects that explore the sonification and audification of inaudible signals will be examined, including the work of Christina Kubisch. The process of audification and sonification of these signals will be examined in comparison to soundscape experiences in order to develop a theory of data sonification based on the soundscape. In order to build a community around the urban soundscape, in 2003, the author co-founded the New York Society of Acoustic Ecology. Through this endeavor, she co-created the ongoing NYSoundmap and Sound Seeker projects, which provide some practical research for this article. Thus, by comparing and contrasting theoretical writings with leading listening exercises, public soundwalks, soundscape-related brainstorming sessions, and presenting field recordings in various settings, new methodologies will be documented.     

The aesthetic turn in sonification towards a social and cultural medium

The public release of datasets on the internet by government agencies, environmental scientists, political groups and many other organizations has fostered a social practice of data visualization. The audiences have expectations of production values commensurate with their daily experience of professional visual media. At the same time, access to this data has allowed visual designers and artists to apply their skills to what was previously a field dominated by scientists and engineers. The ‘aesthetic turn’ in data visualization has sparked debates between the new wave and older more scientifically grounded schools of thought on the topic. Sonification is not as well known or commonly practiced as visualization. But sound is a naturally affective, aesthetic and cultural medium. The extension of the aesthetic turn to sonification could transform this field from a scientific curiosity and engineering instrument into a popular mass medium. This paper proposes that a design approach can facilitate an aesthetic turn in sonification that integrates aesthetics and functionality by dissolving divisions between scientific and artistic methods. The first section applies the design perspective to the definition of sonification by replacing the linguistic concept of representation with non-verbal concept of functionality. The next section describes applications of the TaDa design method that raised aesthetic issues particular to sonification practice. The final section proposes a pragmatic aesthetics that distinguishes sonification from the auditory sciences and sonic arts. A design perspective may lead to a future where the general public tunes into pop sonifications for listening enjoyment as well as useful information about the world.     

Relationships of sonification to music and sound art

The definition of sonification has been reframed in recent years but remains somewhat in flux; the basic concepts and procedural flows have remained relatively unchanged. Recent definitions have focused on the objective the important uses of sonification in terms of scientific method. The full realization of the potential of the field must also include the craft and art of music composition. The author proposes examining techniques of sonification in a two-order framework: direct and procedural. The impact of new technologies and historical roots of that work argues that framing this broad topic should be in terms inclusive of scientific method and craftsmanship and art. The expressive use of sonic time-based data flows needs to be refined and expanded. The unexamined territory of how a broad-based population of listeners on a subjective, as well as objective level needs, have to be included in this new field.     

Waveguide synthesis for sonification of distributed sensor arrays

A decade of work is outlined based on the use of sensors on plants that are used to change the parameters of a fixed rotation of overlapping pitches. The use of waveguide, physical modeling synthesis, allows the repeated music figures to be changed in timbral space in real time in a discernable set of ongoing parameter mapping from a large data set being generated by various biological and atmospheric sensors.     

High-level control of sound synthesis for sonification processes

Methods of sonification based on the design and control of sound synthesis is presented in this paper. The semiotics of isolated sounds was evidenced by performing fundamental studies using a combined acoustical and brain imaging (event-related potentials) approach. The perceptual cues (which are known as invariants) responsible for the evocations elicited by the sounds generated by impacts, moving sound sources, dynamic events and vehicles (car-door closing and car engine noise) were then identified based on physical and perceptual considerations. Lastly, some examples of the high-level control of a synthesis process simulating immersive 3-D auditory scenes, interacting objects and evoked dynamics are presented.     

Algorithmic approach to sonification of classical Chinese poetry

The classical Chinese poetry is a remarkable form of art in traditional Chinese character. However, it is difficult for people who are unfamiliar with ancient Chinese to experience the artistic content of the poetry. In this study, a sonification scheme, Tx2Ms (Text-to-Music), is proposed to extract the poetry features between lines in verses; moreover, dynamics and interval relations are modeled to map those features to the movement of multi-dimensional musical elements such as durations. This conversion is based on poetry intonation and acoustic analysis of the pronunciations of poems; and a stochastic compositional algorithm is created by applying a Markov chain. In addition, the best pentatonic mode for a specific poem is recommended according to the formants analysis. Therefore, the sonification of classical Chinese poetry not only provides a novel way for people to appreciate Chinese poetry but also enriches the state of mind and imagery in the delivery process, and the experiment results show that the proposed system is successfully accepted by most people.     

Apropos sonification: a broad view of data as music and sound

Numbers have been identified with symbolic data forever. The profound association of both with acoustics, music, and sonic art from Pythagoras to current work is beyond reproach. Recently, sonification looks for ways to realize symbolic data (representing results or measurements) as well as “raw” data (signals, impulses, images, etc.) into compositions. In the strictest sense, everything in a computer is symbolic, that is, represented by 0s and 1s. In the arts, the digital age has broadened and enhanced the conceptual landscape not simply through its servitude to the creative process, but as its partner. However, there is a rich history of the use of data that no doubt has paved the way for many of today’s experiments including my own.     

Continuous sonification enhances adequacy of interactions in peripheral process monitoring

As many users who are charged with process monitoring need to focus mainly on other work while performing monitoring as a secondary task, monitoring systems that purely rely on visual means are often not well suited for this purpose. Sonification, the presentation of data as (non-speech) sound, has proven in several studies that it can help in guiding the user's attention, especially in scenarios where process monitoring is performed in parallel with a different, main task. However, there are several aspects that have not been investigated in this area so far, for example if a continuous soundscape can guide the user's attention better than one that is based on auditory cues. We have developed a system that allows reproducible research to answer such questions. In this system, the participants’ performance both for the main task (simulated by simple arithmetic problems) and for the secondary task (a simulation of a production process) can be measured in a more fine-grained manner than has been the case for existing research in this field. In a within-subject study (n=18), we compared three monitoring conditions – visual only, visual + auditory alerts and a condition combining the visual mode with continuous sonification of process events based on a forest soundscape. Participants showed significantly higher process monitoring performances in the continuous sonification condition, compared to the other two modes. The performance in the main task was at the same time not significantly affected by the continuous sonification.     

三电平脉冲整流器的仿真与分析

随着电力电子技术的发展,高功率因数,低谐波的PWM整流器也逐渐得到了应用。PWM整流器消除了传统整流电路（如二极管构成的不可控整流电路和晶闸管构成的相控整流电路）的谐波分量大、功率因数低且不可任意控制等缺点。当整流装置应用于高压场合时,需要使用高反压的功率开关管IGBT或将多个功率开关管串联使用,而三电平整流器[2]的每一个功率开关器件所承受的关断电压仅为直流侧电压的一半,因此在同等条件下直流母线电压可以提高一倍,故它比两电平更适合于高压、大功率应用场合。本实验以三电平中点箝位PWM整流器[2]为研究对象。     

The effect of sonification display pulse rate and reliability on operator trust and perceived workload during a simulated patient monitoring task

The present study investigated the effects of sonification pulse rate and sensor reliability on operator trust and mental workload. Processing resources and operator trust were sensitive to both pulse rate and sensor reliability. These findings suggest that setting pulse rates to 60 pulses per min may have considerable benefits in critical task environments.     

阅读土地

艺术家毛同强用三年的时间,搜集了1300多张废弃了的地契,创作了《地契》这件大型作品。     

传感技术在脉诊中应用及脉象多属性特征检测探讨

分析传感技术在脉诊中应用,根据传感接触方式分为接触与非接触式两类,研究压力、压阻和压磁式三种接触式传感及光电、超声和声音式三种非接触式传感原理与技术.分析表明采取单一传感模式较难反映脉象多属性特征,研究多属性特征检测的方法,提出组合声音传感与接触式的新型多属性特征检测方法思路.     

The effect of sonification display pulse rate and reliability on operator trust and perceived workload during a simulated patient monitoring task

The present study investigated the effects of sonification pulse rate and sensor reliability on operator trust and mental workload. Processing resources and operator trust were sensitive to both pulse rate and sensor reliability. These findings suggest that setting pulse rates to 60 pulses per min may have considerable benefits in critical task environments.     

数字地球神经系统模型研究

本世纪末数字地球概念的提出具有重大的意义,文章首先讨论了它的特点,接着对网络的人工生命现象进行了分析,提出数字地球神经系统模型的新概念,指出网络工操作性是数字地球神经系统的关键因素,并研究了基于地理空间信息与知识的智能代理技术。     

The Earth Simulator: roles and impacts

The Earth Simulator Research Project started in March 2002 with the primary objective of producing reliable prediction data for global climate change. Within a couple of months after the start of operation, the Earth Simulator achieved an amazing performance of 35.86 Teraflops (about 90% of the peak performance of 40.96 Teraflops) in the Linpack benchmark test and, more surprisingly, 26.58 Teraflops for a typical application program of global atmospheric circulation model (called AFES) with a horizontal resolution of 10 km. These facts ensure us that the real contribution of the Earth Simulator be far greater than originally expected. Undoubtedly, the Earth Simulator would work to make a paradigm shift in science, industry, and human thinking, as well as finding the best human’s wisdom to keep a sustainable symbiotic relationship with nature.     

数字地球:知识经济时代的地球信息化载体--背景、概念、支撑技术、应用述评

数字地球是１９８９～１９９９年媒体介绍较多和国内知识界、科技界关注较多的一个新概念。在分析文献的基础上,对提出数字地球的政治、科技、经济背景,数字地球的概念,数字地球的支撑技术及其应用进行了综述,并综合了国内专家对发展中国数字地球的必要性、可行性及有关发展战略的意见;最后,提出了发展中国数字地球过程中应注意解决的问题。     

Listen and learn: An investigation of sonification as an instructional variable to improve understanding of complex environments

Sonification, the use of non-speech audio to convey information, was used to test whether the simultaneous presentation of visual and artificially created auditory (sound) information significantly improves scores on comprehension tests of complex, dynamic computer simulations of an ecology microworld over scores from college participants who were presented visual information alone. Brief training was provided and all tasks were completed online. Participants were also tested for musical aptitude and preferred learning modality. Results indicate that while age and grade point average significantly predicted score on the comprehension test, the treatment tested here did not. For one-month retention of knowledge, only grade point average was significant. Nevertheless, the experimental methodology and the demonstrated convenience of online data collection are a contribution to the field. Moreover, the size of several positive effects and the identification of opportunities for improvement in the presentation of information invite a follow-up study.     

随机脉位线性调频脉冲信号分析与仿真

针对等脉宽随机脉位脉冲信号脉位随机性不强的问题,提出了随机脉位线性调频脉冲信号(RPP-LFM)的概念,并对其产生方法、脉冲平均密度、脉冲平均脉宽、脉冲平均重复周期、随机脉冲序列的自相关性、模糊函数以及各个脉冲的载频特性进行了深入的研究,分析结果说明该信号形式既具有雷达信号的特点,可以作为雷达信号使用,又具有宽带噪声的遮盖特性,可以作为电子攻击信号使用,是一种重要的信号形式,具有作为未来一体化系统使用的共用信号的潜力.