Dr Domenico Vicinanza

Senior Lecturer in Electronics | Anglia Ruskin University

Cambridge, England, UNITED KINGDOM

He combines expertise in music and science - and is one of the pioneers of ‘data sonification’ for scientific and artistic purposes.

Areas of Expertise (6)

Mathematical Music Theory

South Synthesis

Public Engagement in Science

Music and Science

Data Sonification

Acoustics

Biography

Dr Domenico Vicinanza is Senior Lecturer in Electronics in the School of Computing and Information Science at Anglia Ruskin. He combines expertise in music and science - and is one of the pioneers of ‘data sonification’ (the mapping of data to music) for scientific and artistic purposes. He uses music as a way to engage public interest in science and to enhance the experience of science issues - with projects for NASA and CERN. He co-created a soundtrack for the 5000th Mars sunrise - which he launched in the NASA booth at the global Supercomputing Conference - and is creating ringtones for NASA. His work is the focus of a BBC radio programme.

Domenico received his PhD degree in Physics working at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN, Geneva). He is a professional music composer and orchestrator. Since the end of 1990s he supported scientists in different fields, from hydrobiology to cosmology, from earth science to particle physics providing, through sound, different perspectives to their data. He also founded an organisation to research ancient instruments (in the BC period of history) and to reconstruct lost instruments.

Media Mentions (5)

Experience the sound of a martian sunrise

Astronomy Magazine online

2018-11-13

“Image sonification is a really flexible technique to explore science and it can be used in several domains, from studying certain characteristics of planet surfaces and atmospheres, to analyzing weather changes or detecting volcanic eruptions,” said Domenico Vicinanza of Anglia Ruskin University, one of the scientists responsible for the track, in a press release.“In health science, it can provide scientists with new methods to analyse the occurrence of certain shapes and colors, which is particularly useful in image diagnostics.”

Scientists turn Martian sunrise into a piece of music

UPI online

2018-11-12

"We are absolutely thrilled about presenting this work about such a fascinating planet," researcher Domenico Vicinanza said.

This is the sound of a sunrise on Mars, translated into music – and it's completely haunting

Classic FM online

2018-11-09

Using a technique called data sonification, Dr Domenico Vicinanza of Anglia Ruskin University and Dr Genevieve Williams of the University of Exeter, turned this image into music.

Space becomes music to the ears of scientists

ITV News online

2017-11-10

"Our orchestra score is more than just inspired by one of the most successful space missions of all time, it is shaped entirely by Voyager 1's incredible journey. Data sonification can play an important role in helping to share scientific discoveries and we hope that by converting 40 years of data into music, listeners will be able to hear aspects of Voyager 1's journey that are perhaps not so obvious when looking at graphs of data."

Can You Hear the Higgs?

WIRED UK online

2016-09-09

Have you ever wondered what one of the greatest scientific discoveries of our time sounds like? Wonder no longer! After the announcement of the Higgs boson discoveries last week, researcher Domenico Vicinanza immediately went to work sonifiying the data.

Multimedia Appearances

Publications Photos Videos Documents Audio/Podcasts

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Accomplishments (3)

TOYP (The Outstanding Young Persons) for the category Research

2009 by the Junior Chamber International Italy and nominated for the world TOYP prize

Best Original Experimental Work at International School of Particle Physics Erice

2001

Robert Hofstadter Awards at International School of Particle Physics Erice

2000

Education (2)

University of Salerno: Ph.D., Physics 2002

University of Salerno: M.Sc. (Laurea cum Laude), Physics 1998

Affiliations (2)

Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Member, Audio Engineering Society

Links (2)

Articles (5)

The use of sonification for physiotherapy in human movement tasks: A scoping review

Science & Sports

2020 This review aims to: (1) map the use of sonification in human movement tasks for physical therapy; (2) identify methods of data capture, tasks and its effects on human subjects; (3) suggest future research directions.

Lower limb tri-joint synchrony during running gait: A longitudinal age-based study

Human Movement Science

2019 Biomechanical research exploring the age-based mechanics of running gait can provide valuable insight into the reported decline in master endurance running performance. However, few studies have shown consistent biomechanical differences in the gait of trained distance runners compared to their younger counterparts.

Is Active Transport and Leisure-Time Physical Activity Associated With Inflammatory Markers in US Adults? A Cross-Sectional Analyses From NHANES

Journal of Physical Activity and Health

2019 To investigate the association between levels of active transport and leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) with C-reactive protein, white blood cell count, body mass index, waist circumference, and lipids in a large representative sample of adults residing in the United States.

Coordination in gait: Demonstration of a spectral approach

Journal of Sports Sciences

2018 Many important notions in Life Sciences are linked with the idea of cycles, periodicity, fluctuations and transitions. The aim of this paper is to use spectral analysis in a unique way to study and quantify whole body coordination during gait. A participant walked at 3 km/h and ran at 15 km/h on a treadmill for 2 minutes.

Limit cycle dynamics of the gymnastics longswing