Augmenting the navigation of complex data sets using sonification: a case study with BrainX3

The meaningful representation and exploration of big data constitutes a challenge for many scientific fields. In recent years, auditory displays have been effectively employed to address this problem. The coupling of sonification with visualization techniques in multimodal displays can lead to the implementation of powerful tools for the understanding of complex datasets. In this study, we applied sonification techniques to a complex dataset from neuroscience. To do so, we used BrainX³, a novel immersive technology for the exploration of large brain networks. We conducted an experiment to assess whether the addition of an auditory layer would result in better user performance of brain region identification at different spatial resolutions.