What does data sound like?
Data sonification – the translation of data into sound – can help people experience data in fun and fascinating ways that improve accessibility and enhance understanding.
Some data sonifications are fun and popular
Maybe you’ve heard plant music – measures of electrical resistance in plants, or in this case fungi, transformed into soothing sounds that are popular on social media. These videos are for entertainment, but they help introduce the concept of sonification to new audiences.
Some make complex data easier to understand
NASA combines astronomical data with sound and visuals to create immersive sensory experiences that communicate multiple wavelengths of light simultaneously. You can even practice creating your own sonifications with the Hearing Hubble app.
And some were developed right here in Illinois
Illinois researchers used sound to understand how a protein folds, a process with tens of thousands of steps too complex to represent with visuals alone.
Illinois is also home to an open source tool
The Py maidr package from the (x)Ability Design Lab makes it easy to augment your existing Python data visualizations with sound, text, Braille, and AI, making your data more accessible and interactive.
Advantages of data sonification
- Audio conveys nuance that can be hard to see in visualizations.
- Sound is a great way to represent movement and change over time.
- Sonifications make data more accessible to people with visual impairments.
- Representing data in multiple ways creates new pathways for exploration and understanding.
Want to hear more?
Check out Listen to the Universe, a short video documentary about NASA’s sonification of data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (includes audio descriptions).
All Data Nudges are licensed under CC BY 4.0. You are free to share, adopt, or adapt them and cite the Illinois Research Data Service.