This thesis advances image sonification—the process of translating images into sound—as a reliable scientific instrument for life science researchers and an inspiring sound design tool for everyone else.
In close collaboration with biologists within the AUTORHYTHM research project, we developed Pixasonics, an interactive toolbox that serves as a standardized platform for exploring image data through sound. Pixasonics makes image sonification design more accessible and reproducible—but for the method to become reliable for scientific research, we need to be able to identify relationships within the source data based on what we hear.
Our interactive ”Synth Maps” method demonstrates a core challenge in this process: a minor change in synthesizer parameters can result in a disproportionately large perceived change in the synthesized sound. To address this discrepancy, we introduced a novel image sonification method that leverages machine learning to automatically find patterns in image and sound datasets, and to create a mapping between them that ensures what the researcher hears remains proportional to the underlying patterns in the images.
Bálint Laczkó successfully defended his thesis on 19 August 2026.
Trial lecture
Designated topic: The Aesthetic of Objectivity: Navigating the Divide Between Scientific and Artistic Sonification.
Thesis introduction
First opponent
Second opponent
Evaluation committee
- Dr Anna Xambó Sedó, Queen Mary University
- Professor Paul Vickers, Northumbria University
- Professor Stefano Fasciani, University of Oslo
Chair of the defence
- Head of Department Anja Nylund Hagen, University of Oslo
Supervisors
- Professor Alexander Refsum Jensenius, University of Oslo
- Chief Research Scientist Marie E. Rognes, Simula Research Laboratory