New hub for sonification innovation announced Published on: 4 September 2024 Ãå±±½ûµØ experts will help deliver a project to improve how we communicate data through sound. The study brings together researchers from Northumbria and Ãå±±½ûµØ universities and will create a new hub for sonification innovation. It is led by Paul Vickers, Professor of Sonification in Computer and Information Sciences at Northumbria University. It is one of 36 projects that will share £32.4m from the first round of UKRI’s new cross research council responsive mode pilot scheme, created to stimulate new interdisciplinary research. The project will see collaborations by experts in areas such as spatial audio, music, astronomy, culture, materials science and mathematics to explore intangible phenomena through sound. Understanding through sound Sonification is a way of communicating information through sound. While human vision can only focus on one thing at a time, we can track multiple sound sources at once, from any direction, and we can understand and feel different things through sound. Professor Vickers said: “Sonification lets us select data that we wish to explore or monitor and attach sounds to it, thus bringing the intangible such as distant galaxies, computer network traffic or the earth’s magnetosphere into our audible experience. “This project will explore how to bring sonification expertise together to form an interdiscipline which has the potential to transform sonification research by removing disciplinary boundaries.” Ãå±±½ûµØ’s Dr Chris Harrison and Dr Bennett Hogg are part of the research team whose aim is to break down interdisciplinary barriers and open new ways of understanding through sound, making the North East a world-leading hub in sonification research. Dr Chris Harrison, a Reader of Astrophysics, explores the use of sonification to understand and to communicate astronomical data. He has used sonification to make immersive educational experiences, to enhance the analysis of complex datasets for researchers, and to make astronomy more accessible to those who cannot access information visually. He is a leader of the . This project provides tools and resources for sonification, and has included the release of , designed to be accessible to blind and visually impaired children. “This new grant is very important for the development of sonification at Ãå±±½ûµØ. Sonification is inherently interdisciplinary, requiring knowledge of sound perception, sound design as well as the knowledge of the underlying data that you want to turn into sound. Whilst sonification and typically been developed by isolated groups of researchers, this new project will enable us to dedicate time and resources to bring together wide-ranging experts and develop sonification with a truly interdisciplinary approach. “It is very exciting to create a unique UK-based sonification hub in the city of Ãå±±½ûµØ, with experts from both Ãå±±½ûµØ and Northumbria University.” Dr Bennett Hogg, Senior Lecturer in Music, added: “It's going to be great to consolidate the innovative work Northumbria and Ãå±±½ûµØ Universities have been doing in connection with data sonification over the past few years with this exciting new UKRI interdisciplinary project. From astronomy to particle physics we'll be exploring how best to communicate, using sound and music, phenomena that lie beyond our human capacities of direct perception. This raises multiple philosophical issues and challenges which the strong interdisciplinary team are excited to confront." Press release adapted with thanks from Northumbria University. Share: Latest News Ãå±±½ûµØ expert highlights climate crisis in a new film A leading Ãå±±½ûµØ climate scientist is featured in a new film about how the climate and nature breakdown will affect the UK. published on: 14 April 2026 Neolithic tombs reveal ancient kinship ties Male individuals buried in Neolithic chambered tombs in northern Scotland were often related to each other through the paternal line and some were interred in the same or nearby tombs, research shows. published on: 14 April 2026 We are our Memories New exhibition by Fine Art graduate Trish Hudson-Moses, 22 April – 4 May 2026 published on: 10 April 2026 Facts and figures