Sonification, Science and Popular Music: In search of the ‘wow’

Abstract

Sonification is described as an under-utilised dimension of the ‘wow!’ factor in science engagement multi-media. It is suggested that sonification's potential value, like much of the scientific visualisation content, probably lies less in hard facts and more in how it may serve as a stimulant for curiosity. Sound is described as a multi-dimensional phenomenon, and a number of approaches to creating sonifications are reviewed. Design strategies are described for five types of phenomena that were sonified for works created by cosmologist George Smoot III and percussionist/ethnomusicologist Mickey Hart, most particularly for their film Rhythms of the Universe (Hart and Smoot 2013).