A systematic review of mapping strategies for the sonification of physical quantities

The field of sonification has progressed greatly over the past twenty years and currently constitutes an established area of research. This article aims at exploiting and organizing the knowledge accumulated in previous experimental studies to build a foundation for future sonification works. A systematic review of these studies may reveal trends in sonification design, and therefore support the development of design guidelines. To this end, we have reviewed and analyzed 179 scientific publications related to sonification of physical quantities. Using a bottom-up approach, we set up a list of conceptual dimensions belonging to both physical and auditory domains. Mappings used in the reviewed works were identified, forming a database of 495 entries. Frequency of use was analyzed among these conceptual dimensions as well as higher-level categories. Results confirm two hypotheses formulated in a preliminary study: pitch is by far the most used auditory dimension in sonification applications, and spatial auditory dimensions are almost exclusively used to sonify kinematic quantities. To detect successful as well as unsuccessful sonification strategies, assessment of mapping efficiency conducted in the reviewed works was considered. Results show that a proper evaluation of sonification mappings is performed only in a marginal proportion of publications. Additional aspects of the publication database were investigated: historical distribution of sonification works is presented, projects are classified according to their primary function, and the sonic material used in the auditory display is discussed. Finally, a mapping-based approach for characterizing sonification is proposed.