Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 18, 2025

Real-Time Proxy-Control of Re-Parameterized Peripheral Signals using a Close-Loop Interface
Published on: May 8, 2021
Data-to-music sonification and user engagement
Jonathan Middleton1,2, Jaakko Hakulinen2, Katariina Tiitinen2
1Department of Fine and Performing Arts, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA, United States.
Abstract:
The process of transforming data into sounds for auditory display provides unique user experiences and new perspectives for analyzing and interpreting data. A research study for data transformation to sounds based on musical elements, called data-to-music sonification, reveals how musical characteristics can serve analytical purposes with enhanced user engagement. An existing user engagement scale has been applied to measure engagement levels in three conditions within melodic, rhythmic, and chordal contexts. This article reports findings from a user engagement study with musical traits and states the benefits and challenges of using musical characteristics in sonifications. The results can guide the design of future sonifications of multivariable data.
Related Concept Videos
Sound Intensity
Sound Intensity Level
The human ear can perceive an extensive range of sound intensity, necessitating the use of the logarithmic scale to define a physical quantity—the intensity level. It is a ratio of two intensities and...
Sound as Pressure Waves
The pressure fluctuation depends on the difference in displacements between the successive points in the...
Perception of Sound Waves
The pitch of a sound depends on the frequency and the pressure amplitude of the source. Two sounds of the same...
Sound Waves
Sound waves are longitudinal in most fluids because fluids cannot sustain any lateral pressure. In solids, however, shear forces help in propagating the disturbance in the lateral direction as well....
Sound Waves: Resonance

