Music-enhanced Parallel Coordinate Plots: Visualizing Information in an Interactive Multimodal Environment

This paper investigates the efficacy of multimodal visualization of multivariate data with parallel coordinate plots. In a music-enhanced parallel coordinate plot, in addition to colors, variables became audibly distinct as auditory parameters (i.e., pitch and frequency) were varied with variable values. While interacting with an audio-enhanced parallel coordinate plot, relationships among variables could be established by comparing the audio feedback. Interactive clustering and the corresponding audio-visual representation made data presentations clear and interesting when visual demonstrations became cluttered. Findings showed that multimodality enhanced user experience in parallel plot visualization compared to the visual-only approach. Audio enhancement using preferred music emotionally engaged users with data exploration.