Sonic Information Design for the Display of Proteomic Data

William L. Martens

A research project focusing on the sonification of proteomic data distributions provided the context for the current study of sonic information design, which was guided by multiple criteria emphasizing practical use as well as aesthetics. For this case, the auditory display of those sonifications would be judged useful if they were to enable listeners to hear differences in proteomic data associated with three different types of cells, one of which exhibited the neuropathology associated with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). A primary concern was to ensure that meaningful patterns in the data would not be lost as the data were transformed into sound, and so three different data sonifications were designed, each of which attempted to capitalize upon human auditory capacities that complement the visual capacities engaged by more conventional graphic representations. One of the data sonifications was based upon the hypothesis that auditory sensitivity to regularities and irregularities in spatio-temporal patterns in the data could be heard through spatial distribution of sonic components. The design of a second sonification was based upon the hypothesis that variation in timbre of non-spatialized components might create a distinguishable sound for each of three types of cells. A third sonification was based upon the hypothesis that redundant variation in both timbral and spatial features of sonic components would be even more powerful as a means for identifying spatio-temporal patterns in the dynamic, multidimensional data generated in modern proteomic studies of ALS. This paper will focus upon the sound processing underlying the alternative sonifications that were examined in this case study of sonic information design.

1. Introduction	4. Results and Discussion
2. A Case Study of Proteomic Data Sonification	Biography
3. Sound Synthesis and Processing Methods	References

1. Introduction	4. Results and Discussion
2. A Case Study of Proteomic Data Sonification	Biography
3. Sound Synthesis and Processing Methods	References

2. A Case Study of Proteomic Data Sonification

Working with biomedical scientists Philip Poronnik (University of Sydney) and Derren Saunders (University of New South Wales), a variety of sonifications of proteomic datasets associated with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) were designed to support sonic exploratory data analysis (EDA). In an effort to provide objective verification of the effectiveness of the design decisions made in the development of those sonifications, an experimental research study (Martens, Poronik and Saunders 2016) was executed. In that study, three distinct sonifications of three datasets were presented to a group of naïve listeners who were instructed to listen for differences between the three alternative sonifications of proteomic data distributions associated with three different types of cells. The motivation for the study was to determine whether the distinct sonifications could reliably indicate differences due to the neuropathology associated with ALS via auditory display (through exploration of the differentiation of induced pluripotent stem-cell-derived neurons). Auditory display was thought to provide potential benefits over pure visual displays of proteomic data, which for biomedical scientists often result in visual overload, resulting in the possibility that detailed or subtle differences in data pertinent to ALS neurodegradation are missed.

This project was launched with a focus on the selection of sound synthesis technologies that were thought to be the best candidates for transforming data structure and properties into auditory displays that could support more intuitive interpretations of the data. The preliminary results of this auditory data exploration were presented at the 22nd International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD 2016) that was held at the Australian National University (Martens et al. 2016). Although the results of that study revealed only the perceptual distinctiveness of the sonifications, these preliminary results provided a basis for further exploration of the potential value of these sonifications, with the benefit that their perceptual distinctiveness had been established. Further work will be required to address important issues in sonification system usability for this application and to determine whether the system will provide a real benefit to domain experts (i.e., the biomedical scientists with interest in finding differences in proteomic datasets due to ALS neuropathology). Thus, this paper reports these preliminary evaluation results as an indication of progress on just one component of the larger medical research project, focusing solely upon the effectiveness of the display technology used to aid domain experts in interpreting and understanding medical data (particularly proteomic data). Nonetheless, it is expected that such preliminary examination of the perceptual distinctiveness of sonification system outputs will provide insight into the design and development of novel and potentially useful sonifications.

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