I thought that the way Sterne and Akiyama use the term “sonification” to mean making non-sonic information audible has many parallels to the way that non-visual data visual. When we visualize information it makes certain patterns pop out and it makes answering certain questions easy. When we sonify information I think that different patters emerge and it allows different questions to be answered. Both visualization and sonification have there merits and I believe that method of representing data should depend on analogy between the data and patterns you are looking for and the types of information we are used to either hearing or seeing.

One of my favorite examples of sonification is the radio active orchestra, which convert the pattern of low energy radioactive decay into music by mapping different decay rates and energy levels to musical notes. Radio active decay is both non-visual and non-sonic information and I think that using sonificaiton to be able to experience and gain intuition about a phenomena that is normally unknown to all of our senses is a compelling use case for sonification. While there would have been some benefit to visualizing this information visually, I think that in this case being able to here the data gives you a better experience because sound is a closer analogy particles that are being emitted all around you then an image .

Radio active orchestra: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2012/11/14/radioactive-isotopes-used-to-create-live-music.html