Sonification of reference markers for auditory graphs: effects on non-visual point estimation tasks

Research has suggested that adding contextual information such as reference markers to data sonification can improve interaction with auditory graphs. This paper presents results of an experiment that contributes to quantifying and analysing the extent of such benefits for an integral part of interpreting graphed data: point estimation tasks. We examine three pitch-based sonification mappings; pitch-only, one-reference, and multiple-references that we designed to provide information about distance from an origin and assess their effects on users' performances when completing point estimation tasks. Results showed that the addition of reference tones increases users accuracy with a trade-off for task completion times, and that the multiple-references mapping is particularly effective when dealing with points that are positioned at the midrange of a given axis.