An Ear to the Sky: Intuitive Exploration & Discovery in Astronomical Data using Sonification

在近几十年的天文学中，随着观测和物理模型的日益复杂，我们的宇宙出现了更详细的物理图景。然而，不断增长的数据细节和数量也带来了自身的问题；人类数据探索可能会变得势不可挡，尽管它在历史科学发现中发挥着核心作用。机器学习工具已经出现，但人类对数据的直觉仍然是开发和解释数据的关键。这个问题困扰着我们如何与所有层面的数据打交道，从高水平的研究到向公众展示数据。更重要的是，数据呈现的视觉偏见排除了那些有视觉障碍的人，这可能导致该领域的视觉受损(VI)研究人员的代表性严重不足。在这项计划中，我们建议开发新的工具和技术来“发声”(将数据编码成声音)，以提供对天文数据集的独特视角，特别是施特劳斯代码(发音工具和资源，用于使用声音合成进行分析)。这个免费开放源码的python库使用面向对象和抽象的方法，允许用户将自己的数据发声，类似于如何使用绘图库进行可视化。施特劳斯将被用于发声光谱进行分类，并作为新型IFU探测器的基础，允许用户在探索2D投影空间轴时听到第三频率轴。我们还将探索使用施特劳斯来监控大量数据，并将其作为一种通过独特的天文馆和VR展示向公众展示数据的方式。我们打算共同与对大数据的人类管理和探索感兴趣的商业公司合作，以及为更具包容性的社会提供可访问性。通过商业支持，我们希望最大限度地扩大我们所感受到的广泛的社会和跨学科利益，为全球社会中的复杂数据建立新的直觉和可访问性。

The recent decades of astronomy has seen an ever more detailed physical picture of our Universe emerge, with the enhanced sophistication of observations and physical models. However, the growing detail and volume of data presents its own problems; human data exploration can become overwhelming, despite its central role in historical scientific discovery. Machine-learning tools have arisen to help, but human intuition for the data remains key to their development and interpretation. This problem afflicts how we interface with data at all levels, from high-level research, to presenting data to the public. What's more, the visual bias of data presentation excludes those with visual impairments, likely contributing to a strong underrepresentation of Visually Impaired (VI) researchers in the field. For this program we propose development of novel tools and techniques for 'sonification' (encoding data into sound) to provide a unique perspective on astronomical data sets, in particular the STRAUSS code (Sonification Tools and Resources for Analysis Using Sound Synthesis). This free and open source python library uses an object-oriented and abstracted approach to allow uses to 'sonify' their own data, analogous to how a plotting library can be used for visualisation. STRAUSS will be used to sonify light spectra for classification, and as the basis for a novel IFU explorer, allowing users to hear the third frequency axis as they explore the 2D-projected spatial axes. We will also explore using STRAUSS to monitor high-volume data and as a way to present data to the public via a unique planetarium & VR show. Together, we intend to partner with commercial firms interested in human curation and exploration of big-data, as well as accessibility for a more inclusive society. Through commercial support we hope to maximise the broad societal and interdisciplinary benefits we perceive, establishing new intuition and accessibility for complex data in the global community.