Glossary

Search results

Auditory Graph(also: Audible Graph, Sonified Chart)

A non-visual representation of data that uses sound properties such as pitch, volume, duration, and timbre to convey the values and patterns typically shown in visual charts and graphs. Auditory graphs are an important assistive approach for making data accessible to people who…

Auditory Scrollbar(also: Audio Scrollbar, Sonic Scrollbar)

A non-speech audio cue that conveys a user's position within a list or menu, functioning as an auditory analogue to a visual scrollbar. Auditory scrollbars use variations in pitch, tone patterns, or grouped sounds to communicate contextual information such as how many items are…

Data Sonification(also: Auditory Data Display, Sonified Data Visualization)

The systematic mapping of data values to non-speech audio parameters such as pitch, volume, rhythm, timbre, or spatial location to make datasets perceivable through hearing. Data sonification is a key accessibility technique for making charts, graphs, and other data…

Ecological Metaphor(also: Ecological Validity, Ecological Mapping)

A design principle in sonification and auditory display where the mapping between data and sound aligns with users' real-world sensory and cognitive experience. For example, mapping obstacle distance to pulse rate (like sonar or parking sensors), height to pitch (higher…

Frequency mapping(also: Pitch mapping, Frequency-position mapping)

A sonification technique that encodes spatial position or data values as changes in audio frequency (pitch), creating an intuitive correspondence between vertical position and pitch height — low positions produce low-frequency sounds and high positions produce high-frequency…

Gesture sonification(also: Touch sonification, Gesture-to-sound mapping)

The technique of converting touchscreen finger movements into real-time audio representations by mapping spatial position to sound parameters — typically pitch for vertical position and stereo panning for horizontal position. Gesture sonification enables blind and visually…

Image sonification(also: Visual-to-audio mapping, Auditory image display)

The process of converting visual information from images — such as shapes, charts, diagrams, or spatial layouts — into audio representations that can be perceived without vision. Image sonification maps visual properties like position, size, colour, and shape to audio parameters…

Non-Speech Audio(also: Non-Verbal Audio, Non-Speech Sound)

Auditory output that conveys information through sounds other than spoken words — for example tones, clicks, earcons, auditory icons, musical motifs, or vowel-like timbres. Non-speech audio is widely used in accessibility because it can be faster and less cognitively demanding…

Nonspeech Audio(also: Non-Speech Sounds, Auditory Cues)

Audio feedback in user interfaces that conveys information through sounds other than synthesized or recorded speech, including earcons (abstract musical motifs), auditory icons (realistic sounds representing actions or objects), and sonification (data mapped to sound…

Parameter Mapping Sonification(also: Parameter Mapping, Auditory Parameter Mapping)

A sonification technique that represents changes in data dimensions through corresponding changes in auditory dimensions such as pitch, loudness, timbre, spatial position (panning), tempo, or reverberation. Unlike auditory icons (which use recognizable real-world sounds) or…

Pitch Mapping(also: Pitch-Y Mapping, Frequency Mapping)

A sonification technique that maps data values to auditory pitch, where higher values produce higher-pitched sounds and lower values produce lower-pitched sounds. In accessibility contexts, pitch mapping is commonly used to represent the vertical position (Y-axis) of data points…

Pitch Polarity(also: Pitch Mapping Direction)

The direction in which pitch changes correspond to navigation direction in an auditory interface — specifically, whether pitch increases (ascending polarity) or decreases (descending polarity) as a user scrolls downward through a list or menu. Pitch polarity is a design variable…

Radial Direction(also: Angular Direction, Heading, Bearing (audio display))

In auditory-display research, a data value that represents a direction in a plane — for example a compass bearing, the tangent of a curve, or the orientation of a pointer — treated as an angle rather than as a pair of Cartesian coordinates. Radial values are inherently circular…

Reference Sonification(also: Audio reference tone, Origin tone)

A sonification design pattern in which a fixed, recognisable audio tone represents a known landmark - typically the origin of a coordinate system or another anchor point - and can be re-played on demand so that a user exploring a non-visual data space can re-orient themselves…

Shepard Tone(also: Shepard Scale, Shepard-Risset Glissando)

A psychoacoustic auditory illusion created by layering sine waves separated by octaves, producing the paradoxical perception of a tone that continuously rises (or falls) in pitch indefinitely, yet cycles back without apparent discontinuity. Named after cognitive scientist Roger…

Stereo Panning(also: Audio Panning, Pan)

The technique of distributing a mono sound signal between the left and right channels of a stereo output to create the perception that the sound originates from a specific horizontal position in space. A fully left-panned sound plays only in the left ear, a centered sound plays…

16 results.