Data Melodification FM: Where Musical Rhetoric Meets Sonification

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Zhang, Ke Er Amy, Grellscheid, David, Garrison, Laura
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Zhang, Ke Er Amy
Grellscheid, David
Garrison, Laura
author_facet Zhang, Ke Er Amy
Grellscheid, David
Garrison, Laura
contents We propose a design space for data melodification, where standard visualization idioms and fundamental data characteristics map to rhetorical devices of music for a more affective experience of data. Traditional data sonification transforms data into sound by mapping it to different parameters such as pitch, volume, and duration. Often and regrettably, this mapping leaves behind melody, harmony, rhythm and other musical devices that compose the centuries-long persuasive and expressive power of music. What results is the occasional, unintentional sense of tinnitus and horror film-like impending doom caused by a disconnect between the semantics of data and sound. Through this work we ask, can the aestheticization of sonification through (classical) music theory make data simultaneously accessible, meaningful, and pleasing to one's ears?
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_00222
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Data Melodification FM: Where Musical Rhetoric Meets Sonification
Zhang, Ke Er Amy
Grellscheid, David
Garrison, Laura
Human-Computer Interaction
We propose a design space for data melodification, where standard visualization idioms and fundamental data characteristics map to rhetorical devices of music for a more affective experience of data. Traditional data sonification transforms data into sound by mapping it to different parameters such as pitch, volume, and duration. Often and regrettably, this mapping leaves behind melody, harmony, rhythm and other musical devices that compose the centuries-long persuasive and expressive power of music. What results is the occasional, unintentional sense of tinnitus and horror film-like impending doom caused by a disconnect between the semantics of data and sound. Through this work we ask, can the aestheticization of sonification through (classical) music theory make data simultaneously accessible, meaningful, and pleasing to one's ears?
title Data Melodification FM: Where Musical Rhetoric Meets Sonification
topic Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.00222