Enhancing visualization of molecular simulations using sonification

Scientific visualization is an application area for virtual reality environments like stereoscopic displays or CAVEs. Especially interactive molecular visualizations that show the complex three-dimensional structures found in structural biology are often investigated using such environments. In contrast to VR applications like simulators, molecular visualization typically lacks auditory output. Nevertheless, sonification can be used to convey information about the data. In our work, we use sound to highlight events extracted from a molecular dynamics simulation. This not only offloads information from the visual channel, but can also guide the attention of the analyst towards important phenomena even if they are occluded in the visualization. Sound also creates a higher level of immersion, which can be beneficial for educational purposes. In this paper, we detail our application that adds sonification to the visualization of molecular simulations.