Data’s sound debut

The article “Shhhh. Listen to the data” in the May 2012 issue of Physics Today (page 20 ) was very enjoyable. I was disappointed, however, that no mention was made of the original work of Fiorella Terenzi in sonification of data, which she refers to as “acoustic astronomy.” In 1987 Terenzi, now here at Florida International University, converted radio observations from radio galaxy UGC 6697 into sound for her PhD thesis at the Computer Audio Research Laboratory at the University of California, San Diego.

Her reasons for doing the conversions were the same as mentioned in the Physics Today story, but Terenzi did it in a sound studio where no one had ever before used the equipment for that purpose. She went on to describe the B-flat intonation of such audification and how sound could reflect the chemical, physical, and dynamical properties of the celestial object being studied. In addition to her PhD, Terenzi obtained a record contract with Island Records and produced an internationally successful CD entitled Music from the Galaxies.

Terenzi’s groundbreaking work should not be forgotten among the new generation of scientists who now buy audio processing software and sonify any data stream with ease.