Hearing the Sound of Climate Change
by Debra McGrory
When we turn environment data into sound, the message of environmental emergencies all around us is loud and clear. It’s like an alarm ringing in our ears and we have a choice — choose to ignore it and the consequences will be devastating, or to act on it and keep hope alive for the planet and humanity.
At Sonify we are testing new approaches for communicating climate data with sound by creating data-driven sonifications, using publicly available open data.
“To address our climate emergency, we must rapidly, radically reshape society. We need every solution and every solver…What this moment calls for is a mosaic of voices — the full spectrum of ideas and insights for now we can turn things around.”
— Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson, ‘All We Can Save’
Why Sonification?
Exclusively visual methods are fit for purpose for data professionals communicating with other data professionals but have had limited success in driving reach and engagement among broader audiences. The technology already exists to make data available in more formats than just a silent visual rendering. Rather than seeking to replace existing visualization methods, we add the option of listening to amplify understanding.
The process of sonification involves turning data sets into audible sound using pitch, duration and other properties. I believe that instead of measuring and evaluating the usefulness of data-driven audio solely in contrast to its visual counterpart, it is useful to view methods for sonification and speech from the perspective of storytelling with the goal of extending impact, reach and engagement. Turning data into sound has many advantages. Just like in the cinema, sound adds another layer to understanding. Sound does not require a user to look at a screen to perceive the differences in the output.
Alan Smith writing in The Financial Times in 2019 stated that “Some might be inclined to dismiss sonification as a novelty, but a new generation of screenless devices with voice interfaces, such as Amazon’s Alexa, marks the end of silent interaction with computers. It is perhaps naive to think that data will continue to just be seen and not heard.”
While incremental improvements to visualization are necessary (such as moving from 2D to 3D with virtual and augmented reality) and efforts to secure new sources of data are ongoing, there is an urgent need to build strategies that address the problem of impact, to ensure that data platforms can resonate with the communities they seek to inform.
Examples
Below are a few examples of sonifying environmental data. These were created using our open-source software, TwoTone. Listen and compare basic sonification examples with those using the new MIDI out feature to make data-driven music.
A data sonification of Global Temperature Anomaly 1880–2021.
Data source:
NASA GISS Surface Temperature Analysis (GISTEMP v4)
data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp
Combined Land-Surface Air and Sea-Surface Water Temperature Anomalies (Land-Ocean Temperature Index, LOTI): Global-mean monthly, seasonal, and annual means.
Another quick sonification example using complex air pollution and weather data, including satellite measurements of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) data, to understand a potential relationship between cleaner air and stay-at-home orders.
These are just a few examples of how we can turn environment data into sound and music. Head over to sonify.io to listen to full-length data-sonification podcasts and get in touch with us to explore collaborations and how we can work with you to generate compelling audio content for environmental impact.
