SonEnvir is a research project that investigates applying sonification in a number of scientific disciplines, in order to develop a general sonification software environment. It is the first collaboration of the four universities in Graz, Austria: The Karl Franzens University, the University of Technology, the Medical University, and the University for Music and Dramatic Arts.

Many scientific fields deal with complex, multi-dimensional data. Common methods to analyse the inner structure and hidden information of these data include visualization and statistics. Both approaches are well-established in the communities, but they have some disadvantages: Visualization is limited by the perceptual shortcomings of vision, such as little time resolution and limited number of displayable dimensions. Statistics demand a high level of mathematical competence from the scientist regarding the complexity of the methods used, and their relevance to the data under investigation. Sonification, the perceptualization of data by means of sound, is a promising alternative and complement to these approaches, based on the particular strengths of human auditory perception.

The partner institutions in SonEnvir are: the Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics IEM, at KUG Graz; the Theoretical Physics Group - Institute of Physics, at Uni Graz; the Institute for Sociology, at Uni Graz; the University Clinic for Neurology, at Med-Uni Graz; the Institute for Signal Processing and Speech Communication, at TU Graz.

Information on the people who participate in SonEnvir is here.

SonEnvir is funded by the Future Funds of the Province of Styria.