Sonification of Numerical Data for Education

Sonification is the use of non-speech audio to convey information. In this article, sonifications are representations of plots aimed at improving the accessibility of teaching materials. The electronic nature of sonifications means that they can be deployed to students via teaching interfaces such a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Open learning 2019-01, Vol.34 (1), p.19-39
Main Authors: Vines, Karen, Hughes, Chris, Alexander, Laura, Calvert, Carol, Colwell, Chetz, Holmes, Hilary, Kotecki, Claire, Parks, Kaela, Pearson, Victoria
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Assistive Technology
Audio Equipment
Audiovisual materials
College Students
Data
Disabilities
Distance Education
Distance learning
Electronic Learning
Graphs
Instructional Materials
Learning management systems
Open Universities
STEM Education
Student Attitudes
Students
Teaching Methods
Visual Aids
Visual Impairments
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Summary:Sonification is the use of non-speech audio to convey information. In this article, sonifications are representations of plots aimed at improving the accessibility of teaching materials. The electronic nature of sonifications means that they can be deployed to students via teaching interfaces such as virtual learning environments. We describe a two-phase study that explores sonifications of plots as a teaching tool in the context of distance learning in STEM. The overall objective of these two phases was to begin to assess the suitability of audio versions of graphs as a teaching tool for non-sighted and sighted students. In the first phase the effectiveness of sonifications within a small group of participants who took part in activities like those encountered in a distance learning setting was explored. We found that even though sonifications were new to them, participants were able to use them to gain impressions of the corresponding plots. The second phase deployed sonifications to all students on an Open University (OU) module. Although many of the students who chose to respond did so negatively, some found the sonifications an interesting augmentation of the plot. Overall, we demonstrate that for a subset of students, information in a plot can be communicated using sonifications.
ISSN:0268-0513
1469-9958
DOI:10.1080/02680513.2018.1553707