Contextual Inquiry for a Climate Audio Interface

Abstract

This chapter presents a contextual inquiry of climate scientists during data analysis tasks. Eighteen scientists volunteered for requirement-gathering interviews and focus groups. The interviews have been analyzed in order to determine the implications for a complementary audio interface based on sonification. Results show that climate scientists depend heavily on visualizations, and the amount and complexity of data to be displayed are huge. Climate metaphors are assessed to help develop an intuitive sound design of the interface. The outline and basic properties of the audio tool could be determined. Furthermore, user preference of sound for the auditory display has been evaluated. The volunteers evaluated the sounds aesthetically and associated them with climate parameters. The stimuli, which have been chosen as the sonically most appealing and associated with the same parameter, are considered the optimal ones for the auditory interface.