Sonification, aesthetic representation of physical quantities

About this Research Topic

Background

This Research Topic is a part of the Sonification, perceptualizing biological information series:  Sonification, perceptualizing biological information

Sonification is nowadays reaching targets never thought possible just a few decades ago. Recently there was an expansion of the employment of sonification techniques to various scenarios highlighting the potential of auditory representation for data exploration [Minciacchi and Rosenboom, 2020]. Also, thanks to the introduction of novel instrumentation (e.g., wearable EEG technology, Inertial Measurement Unit-based Systems) which allows for flexible implementation independent from physical constraints, these approaches are greatly facilitated.

In order to achieve accurate auditory representation of data, many factors are to be considered when designing sonification algorithms. Most are related to the type of data and the choice of parameters that would best represent and evidence its significance.

The profoundly integrative powers of human auditory perception can facilitate discovering hidden order or patterns in data and parsing subtle differences in types of complexity, which may then be investigated further with systematic tools. By practicing active imaginative listening in aesthetically designed sonification schemes, this perceptual facility can become enhanced and fine-tuned. These phenomena are well known in arenas of contemporary music [Rosenboom, 2014]

We invite both data scientists and musical professionals to engage in a collaborative approach among the two, in an attempt to create data sonifications that go beyond the mere representation of data, but also incorporate musical elements into their designs.

Authors of scientific sonification experiments are asked to share their data with musicians, who in turn are asked to create aesthetic representations, allowing both the data and its interpretation to reach a greater audience. This effort may also help bridge the gap separating scientists and the general population.

We encourage researchers from the classical fields of life sciences such as: anatomy, physiology, biotechnology, motor control, and computational biology to converge with those active in other fields of investigation such as: acoustics, biomedia arts, multimedia applied sciences, information processing, and signal theory and communication.

We welcome researchers to contribute their original papers as well as review articles relevant to the topic to provide works regarding the implementation of sonification, debate the existing findings in the field, discuss possible translational extensions, with a special focus on therapeutic applications.

Keywords: auditory representation, music, aesthetics perception, information processing, brain computer interface, data navigation

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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