ABSTRACT
This chapter presents key concepts such as "auditory display", "sonification", and "audification" through a number of specific examples in order to demonstrate the specifics of auditory data representation. It discusses how sound is constituent of the relation to data and ultimately to the ideas and understandings of the world, and it makes a distinction between the inherently energetic sonic representation of data and the more semiotic sign-based visual mode of representation. The sonification has proved to be a strong asset for European Space Agency (ESA) in communicating its current research project with the space orbiter Rosetta to a broader public. Sonic representations are instruments for scientific exploration and examination. This is, for instance, the case with the sonifications of solar winds made for NASA. The sonifications made for NASA and ESA are primarily produced and circulated within the social and professional field of science, while Mumma's Mographs records were produced and received by the art community.
