Sonification

I am collaborating with James Trayford - who has created a flexible open source sonification code called 'STRAUSS' (Sonification Tools and Resources for Astronomers Using Sound Synthesis). This is open source on github: https://github.com/james-trayford/strauss . This is part of our wider science and engagement project 'Audio Universe' which aims to use sound for both scientific research and for accessibility to science.

This code allows you to read in data and use this to manipulate sounds, which are either created synthetically within the code or are read in as audio files. For example, you can use data to control the amplitude and frequency of a synthesised sound as a function of time. More complex options are available, such as using data to control a frequency cut-off filter which can have the effect of changing the persevered timbre of a sound. For example, we used this to create a sonification of the water ratio as a function of longitude around the Earth, so create a effect of the changing amount of light bouncing off the Earth when viewed from above. The resulting sonification is shown in the youtube link below. This was for our accessible sound-based show called 'Audio Universe: Tour of the Solar System' and more information about the science behind the show can be found here: https://www.audiouniverse.org/research/tour-of-the-solar-system-sonifications.

A publication about how the code was used to create Audio Universe: Tour of the Solar System is published in Astronomy and Geophysics.

For more about my sonification research and engagement projects, check out our website: www.audiouniverse.org.

In September 2021 and 2022 I chaired workshops, "Audio Universe" and "Audio Universe 2", along with Anita Zanella, on the topic of sonification of astronomical data. These meetings brought together experts in sound design, sound perception, science communication and accessibility with astronomers interested in using sonification. We reviewed the current attempts to use sonification in astronomy and discussed how we could draw on the expertise in sound design/perception to make progress. A special set of publications in Nature Astronomy have come from a result of this collaboration, including meeting report, a review, a Q&A on accessibility in astronomy and a perspective/suggestions from the sound expert community.

You can also see the evolving collection of sonification projects on: https://sonification.design/ and search for 'astronomy'. You are encouraged to add your own projects.

The audio poster for the 2021 workshop is below.