Creating functional and livable soundscapes for peripheral monitoring of dynamic data

Abstract

Sonifications must be studied in order to match listener expectancies about data representation in the form of sound. In this study, a system was designed and implemented for dynamically rendering sonifications of simulated real-time data from the stock market. The system read and parsed the stock data then operated unit generators and mixers through a predefined sound mapping to create a `soundscape' of complementary ecological sounds. The sound mapping consisted of a threshold-based model in which a percentage change in price value was mapped to an ecological sound to be played whenever that threshold or gradient had been reached. The system also provided a generic mechanism for fading and transitioning between gradients. The prototype system was presented to stock trader test subjects in their work-listening environment for evaluation as a stand-alone system and in comparison to their preferred tools.