Translations:Sonification in practice/85/en

The mapping protocol is the core of the sonification system. This is where knowledge of input data must be combined with creativity. According to his/her educational needs, the creator of the sonification system makes choices based on his/her character and artistic taste in translating data sets into sound pieces. The mapping protocol is the process or algorithm or function that associates particular sounds to defined data. It is the set of rules by which output sounds correspond to input data. A simple mapping can consist for example in a direct one-to-one correspondence between each value of an input data to a parameter of an output sound, like the pitch. This component of the system is key because here is where the designer of the system selects certain features of the data to be played in a particular manner, in order to highlight them, or not.