Stream-Based Sonification Diagrams

Abstract

The van Noorden Diagram describes the auditory streaming of two tones with changes in pitch difference and intertone onset interval (IOI). There are regions where the listener hears one stream or two streams, and an ambiguous region between where listening attention affects what is heard. The ambiguous region dominates at IOI > 200ms which is where many sonifications are designed. We propose a Stream-Based Sonification region at IOI < 200ms to control streaming and reduce the ambiguous effects of attention. In this paper we generalise this region in a series of four Stream-Based Sonification Diagrams. The first is a repetition of the original van Noorden Diagram at higher temporal resolution in the SBS region. The other three show the same general pattern of regions for new mappings of the brightness, amplitude and pan of a noise. The results show that streaming by brightness and pitch are closely related. They also show a new coherence boundary for streaming by amplitude, and that streaming by spatial panning is relatively unaffected by IOI. The palette of Stream-Based Sonification Diagrams developed here provides a foundation for the design of sonifications that control streaming and take listening attention into account.