Sonification and music as support to the communication of alcohol-related health risks to young people

Abstract

Excessive consumption of alcohol has been recognised as a significant risk factor impacting the health of young people. Effective communication of such risk is considered to be one key step to improve behaviour. We evaluated an innovative multimedia intervention that utilised audio (sonification-using sound to display data-and music) and interactivity to support the visual communication of alcohol health risk data. A 3-arm pilot experiment was undertaken. The trial measures included health knowledge, alcohol risk perception and user experience of the intervention. Ninetysix subjects participated in the experiment. At 1 month follow-up, alcohol knowledge and alcohol risk perception improved significantly in the whole sample. However, there was no difference between the intervention groups that experienced (1) visual presentation with interactivity (VI-Exp group) and, (2) visual presentation with audio (sonification and music) and interactivity (VAI-Exp group), when compared to the control group which experienced a (3) visual only presentation (V-Cont group). Participants reported enjoying the presentations and found them educational. The majority of participants indicated that the audio, music and sonification helped to convey the information well, and, although a larger sample size is needed to fully establish the effectiveness of the different interventions, this study provides a useful model for future similar studies. Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article

Sound experts’ perspectives on astronomy sonification projects

“…The goals include increased accessibility, monitoring of dynamic processes, data mining, as well as the creation of new artistic experiences for audiences. Applications can be found in assistive technologies 31 , health and environmental science 32,33,34,35,36 , automotive engineering 37 , mobile computing 38,39 , intelligent alarms 40,41 , technology-enhanced learning 42 , and many more fields.…”

Advances in auditory display research

“…Walus et al [18] presents a pilot study examining the use of auditory information to assist in the retention of information in the context of the communication of health risks related to alcohol consumption to young people. Metatla et al [12] presents a participatory design approach applied to the design of audio-haptic interfaces for digital audio workstations for visually impaired sound engineers.…”

Hear Her Fear: Data Sonification for Sensitizing Society on Crime Against Women in India

“…Lenzi et al in their review article discuss five different projects applying sonification to socially relevant issues and compare them based on intentionality in their design [8]. Sonification has also been used to communicate data on alcohol health risks [9]. Furfaro et al used interactive sonification to measure emotional, perceptual and motor behaviour of individuals [10].…”