The Acoustical Presentation of Technical Information

Abstract

This article advocates listening to technical information in much the same way as scientists and engineers currently look at graphics in order to gain an understanding of the relations among variables. It specifies a number of potential benefits of this approach. 1) The ability to hear data may contribute to the greater understanding of the relationships that lie within data. This may lead to alternative theoretical interpretations and explanations. 2) Listening to the data may produce a greater long-term understanding. 3) It will facilitate the understanding of technical information by individuals whose dominant learning modality is acoustic rather than visual. 4) Acoustic data analysis is ideally suited for the analysis of processual data. The article provides a demonstration of the presentation of acoustic information with data on the frequency of television viewing, 1950–1988.