Listening to the invisible: Sonification as a tool for astronomical discovery

Abstract

Sound has been used for scientific investigation for many years; the stethoscope and the Geiger counter are just two examples. Sonification is a method of transforming data into sound. The listener can then explore the data sonically; this which? can reveal hidden structures and relationships not apparent through visualization. This paper discusses the advantages of sonification and introduces the reader to techniques such as audification, parameter mapping and model-based sonification. It provides case studies of astronomy astronomy-based sonification and concludes with a brief discussion of current work on the sonification of radio astronomy data as part of the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI)