Auditory response surfaces of sonified data displays

The sensitivity of participants to identify and rate a known pattern embedded in a sonified data display was investigated in two experiments. The disciplines of auditory perceptual psychology and response surface methodology were employed to investigate participants\u27 abilities to rate a periodic signal embedded within an auditory display. Sound parameters of the displays were varied and participant ratings of signal presence were calculated based on participants\u27 ratings of likelihood that the signal was present in a given display. The experiments determined the relationships between three significant factors and participant ratings. The results from Experiment 1 suggest the optimum conditions for displaying an embedded periodic signal aurally, and also present a model that predicts what ratings values could be expected for a given set of sound parameter values. Experiment 2 utilized the same methodology as Experiment 1 with the exception that participants in Experiment 2 were given a context during their task. Results from Experiment 2 differed slightly from those of Experiment 1, but both had the same basic outcome. Implications of the results as they apply to auditory perceptual theory and data analysis tasks are discussed