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HI John, Just a quick ( and possibly naïve) thought: It seems to me that what you describe is a sonification of a visualisation – a representation of a representation. Fair enough. But I’m not sure that it’s as intuitive to equate higher pitch= greater quantity. I mean, I can grasp it visually (I suppose one could
try for an evolutionary argument – a higher pile= a greater quantity, or some such). Also, in your example of larger data values represented with increased height; yes, but “larger” in this context means “relative to
other data values currently presented” – a bargraph is good for that kind of simultaneous presentation. I’m not sure how well this translates to the simultaneous sonified presentation of comparative data? I could see how the graph could be presented non-simultaneously – scrolling left to right, we hear pitch rise and fall. So in this
case, comparative data has been translated to pitch change direction – over time. In respect of your question, I have a hunch that there is a learning effect here, and people who (for instance) have often worked with
visual representations of sound (as in DAWs) will readily grasp the “more=higher” concept, than others (even musicians-but-without-production expertise). Dr. Peter Lennox SFHEA Senior Lecturer in Perception College of Arts, Humanities and Education
School of Arts
t: 01332 593155 https://derby.academia.edu/peterlennox
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Peter_Lennox
University of Derby, From: AUDITORY - Research in Auditory Perception [mailto:AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of John Neuhoff It seems almost a truism that there is greater variability among individuals in the perception of sonified versus visualized data sets. Yet, finding empirical studies
to support this idea appears to be a challenge. For example, when representing data visually, larger data values are often represented with increasing vertical extent (e.g., taller bars in a bar graph). In most cases observers have almost unanimous agreement
on which bar is higher. In audition the same data can be represented in the domain of musical pitch. High pitch can be used to represent large data values and low pitch can be used to represent small data values. However, there is greater disagreement among
listeners in the case of sonification and the data value specified by pitch. In fact, listeners without musical training often are confused by the terms "high" and "low" as they pertain to musical pitch (Neuhoff, Knight, & Wayand, 2002).
I would be grateful to learn of other examples of greater perceptual variability in the auditon versus vision, particulary as it pertains to data representation.
Best,
-John Neuhoff ___________________________ John G. Neuhoff
Professor Department of Psychology The College of Wooster Chair, Auditory Perception & Cognition Society The University of Derby has a published policy regarding email and reserves the right to monitor email traffic. If you believe this was sent to you in error, please reply to the sender and let them know. Key University contacts: http://www.derby.ac.uk/its/contacts/ |