Stereophonic and surface sound generation for exploratory data analysis

The analysis and interpretation of very high dimensional data require the development and use of data presentation techniques that harness human perceptual powers. The University of Lowell's Exploratory Visualization project (Exvis) aims at designing, implementing, and evaluating perceptually-based tools for data presentation using both visual and auditory domains. This paper describes several auditory data presentation techniques, including the generation of stereophonic sound with apparent depth and sound that appears to emanate from a two-dimensional area. Both approaches can produce sound with auditory texture.