Neel Sanjay Patel
Florida
Oviedo High School
Neel Sanjay Patel, 17, of Geneva, studied how non-speech patterns of sounds, called sonifications, can convey information for his behavioral
and social sciences project submitted to the Intel Science Talent Search. Sonifications can represent information in the same way that a line graph
represents a data trend: for example using increasing pitch or loudness to indicate an upwards sloping line. His four-year study focused on how
sonifications are perceived, how accurately they are understood and the mental activities required for comprehension. He found that people can interpret
and recreate data they can hear with a high degree of accuracy. As part of his research, Neel developed SonicGraph, a user-customizable tool kit that
allows users to create sonifications from data sets. He believes that sonification could be as revolutionary as the graphical user interface was 30 years
ago. An Eagle Scout, Neel is first in his class of 483 at Oviedo High School, and has varsity letters in swimming and water polo. He is the lead author
of two papers delivered at professional conferences and a paper accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. The son of Sanjay and Nita Patel, he
hopes to change the world through science.
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