![]() Instead, Russo and his collaborator, musician Andrew Santaguida, mapped Webb’s data to sound, carefully composing music to accurately represent details the team would like listeners to focus on. ![]() These tracks are not actual sounds recorded in space. They reported that the experience helped them understand how people who are blind or low vision access information differently.” “One significant finding was from people who are sighted. “Respondents’ reactions varied – from experiencing awe to feeling a bit jumpy,” Arcand continued. Participants also shared that auditory experiences deeply resonated with them. Preliminary results from a survey Arcand is leading showed that people who are blind or low vision, and people who are sighted, all reported that they learned something about astronomical images by listening. “We hope these sonifications reach an equally broad audience.” “When curbs are cut, they benefit people who use wheelchairs first, but also people who walk with a cane and parents pushing strollers,” explained Kimberly Arcand, a visualization scientist at the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who led the initial data sonification project for NASA and now works on it on behalf of NASA’s Universe of Learning. This project has parallels to the “curb-cut effect,” an accessibility requirement that supports a wide range of pedestrians. “Our teams are committed to ensuring astronomy is accessible to all.” Similar to how written descriptions are unique translations of visual images, sonifications also translate the visual images by encoding information, like color, brightness, star locations, or water absorption signatures, as sounds,” said Quyen Hart, a senior education and outreach scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. “These compositions provide a different way to experience the detailed information in Webb’s first data. These audio tracks support blind and low-vision listeners first, but are designed to be captivating to anyone who tunes in. “Our goal is to make Webb’s images and data understandable through sound – helping listeners create their own mental images.” “Music taps into our emotional centers,” said Matt Russo, a musician and physics professor at the University of Toronto. Listeners can enter the complex soundscape of the Cosmic Cliffs in the Carina Nebula, explore the contrasting tones of two images that depict the Southern Ring Nebula, and identify the individual data points in a transmission spectrum of hot gas giant exoplanet WASP-96 b.Ī team of scientists, musicians, and a member of the blind and visually impaired community worked to adapt Webb’s data, with support from the Webb mission and NASA’s Universe of Learning. There’s a new, immersive way to explore some of the first full-color infrared images and data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope – through sound. ![]()
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