All Ears, All Eyes

Design Strategies for Concurrent Sonification-Visualisation of Geodata

  • PI :: PerMagnus Lindborg, Associate Professor, School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong
  • Co-I :: Sara Lenzi, Ikerbasque Research Fellow, University of Deusto, Spain
  • Co-I :: Paolo Ciuccarelli, Professor of Design, Northeastern University, Boston, USA
  • Researcher :: Valentina Caiola, PhD candidate, SCM, CityU
  • Technical Assistant :: Matthew Wong

About

Sonification is the translation of data into sound. Inherently interdisciplinary, the field has seen tremendous development characterised by 1) expanding the definition to embrace aesthetics, via electroacoustic music composition; 2) professionalisation of terminology, techniques, and community-building; and 3) increased attention to visualisation. Time is ripe to focus efforts on the third point. We employ knowledge from dynamic data visualisation to improve on sonification techniques, to generate a cross-modal perception informed theoretical framework, and to determine practicable strategies for concurrent sonification-visualisation design. Project targets are: 1) a set of design guidelines, and 2) a proof-of-concept software system applied to geodata with real-life importance, such as rain and wind, pollution and traffic, forest fires and landslides. People seek to understand their physical environment. Accurate and engaging information design helps both in everyday activities and in making life-choices. Laying the research groundwork for a concurrent sonification-visualisation system for communicating environmental geodata has the potential for real-life applications with broad public appeal and societal impact. Ultimately, the goal of the project is to contribute to the digital fabric of society and improve people’s quality of life.

Funding

Stragegic Research Grant (SRG-Fd), City University of Hong Kong (2023/09–2025/08)

Publications

  • Lindborg PM, Caiola V, Lenzi S, Ciuccarelli P (2025/04, in review). “Trends in Goals and Authorship Over Three Decades: Insights from the Data Sonification Archive”. Proceedings of the Conference of the International Community for Auditory Display (ICAD).
  • Caiola V, Lindborg PM (2025/05, accepted). “The Impact of Audio-Visual Legends on Information Design: A Research through Design Case Study”. Proceedings of Experiential Knowledge Special Interest Group (EKSIG Conference 2025), Design Research Society.
  • Lindborg PM, Caiola V, Chen M, Ciuccarelli P, Lenzi S (2024/09). “Re(de)fining Sonification: Project Classification Strategies in the Data Sonification Archive”. Journal of the Audio Engineering Society. DOI https://10.17743/jaes.2022.0167 , https://aes2.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=22710
  • Lindborg, PM, Lenzi S & Chen M (2023/01). “Climate Data Sonification and Visualisation: An Analysis of Aesthetics, Characteristics, and Topics in 32 Recent Projects”. Frontiers in Psychology, section Human-Media Interaction. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1020102, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1020102

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