"The Pulse of COVID" This R script creates an audio 'visualization' of COVID data from the CDC.

Audio_visualization_with_R_tuneR.R

#"The Pulse of COVID"
#This R script creates an audio 'visualization' of covid data from the CDC.
#Notes on what you'll hear: (1) New cases aggregated to week are scaled as the volume and new deaths as the pitch.
#(2) The addition of new data over time will affect the scaled output sound of code re-reun in the future.
library(RSocrata) #For downloading CDC data.
library(tuneR) #Making a .wav file
library(dplyr)
library(lubridate) #Date math --aggregating daily data into weekly data.

#Download data from the CDC.
df<-RSocrata::read.socrata("https://data.cdc.gov/Case-Surveillance/United-States-COVID-19-Cases-and-Deaths-by-State-o/9mfq-cb36/data")
#Get floor date for each week
df$week<-lubridate::floor_date( df$submission_date,unit = "week", week_start = getOption("lubridate.week.start", 7)
)
#Create summary of CDC data by week.
weekly_COVID<-df %>% select(week, new_case,new_death) %>% 
      group_by(week ) %>% 
      summarize(cases =sum(new_case),deaths =sum(new_death))

#Scaling numbers to a high and low volume and pitch. 
volume<-scales::rescale(weekly_COVID$cases, to=c(.05,1.8))
pitch<-scales::rescale(weekly_COVID$deaths, to=c(30,100))

#sample rate per second.
sr<-41000

#define wavelengths
wavelength<-c(2109.89,	1991.47,	1879.69,	1774.2,	1674.62,	1580.63,	1491.91,	1408.18,	1329.14,	1254.55,	1184.13,	1117.67,	1054.94,	995.73,	939.85,	887.1,	837.31,	790.31,	745.96,	704.09,	664.57,	627.27,	592.07,	558.84,	527.47,	497.87,	469.92,	443.55,	418.65,	395.16,	372.98,	352.04,	332.29,	313.64,	296.03,	279.42,	263.74,	248.93,	234.96,	221.77,	209.33,	197.58,	186.49,	176.02,	166.14,	156.82,	148.02,	139.71,	131.87,	124.47,	117.48,	110.89,	104.66,	98.79,	93.24,	88.01,	83.07,	78.41,	74.01,	69.85,	65.93,	62.23,	58.74,	55.44,	52.33,	49.39,	46.62,	44.01,	41.54,	39.2,	37,	34.93,	32.97,	31.12,	29.37,	27.72,	26.17,	24.7,	23.31,	22,	20.77,	19.6,	18.5,	17.46,	16.48,	15.56,	14.69,	13.86,	13.08,	12.35,	11.66,	11,	10.38,	9.8,	9.25,	8.73,	8.24,	7.78,	7.34,	6.93,	6.54,	6.17,	5.83,	5.5,	5.19,	4.9,	4.63,	4.37)

#create a round wave can take wavelength as a function
snd_round_zag <-function(y){
  x<-seq(0, 1, 1/(as.integer(wavelength[y])/2))
  forml<- -x^2+x
  cycle_round<-(c(forml,-forml))
  cycle_round<- scales::rescale(cycle_round, to= c(-1,1))*2^30
  z1<-seq(0, .25, 1/(as.integer(wavelength[y])/2))
  z2<-seq(.25, -.25, -1/(as.integer(wavelength[y])/2))
  z3<-seq(-.25, 0, 1/(as.integer(wavelength[y])/2))
  cycle_round<-(c(forml,-forml,z1,z2,z3))
  cycle_round<- scales::rescale(cycle_round, to= c(-1,1))*2^30
  result<-rep(cycle_round,length.out=sr)
  return(result)
}

#Use scaled new weekly cases and deaths to modulate the amplitude and pitch.
sound_list<-list("")
for (i in 1:length(pitch)){
  sound_list[[i]]<-snd_round_zag(pitch[i])*volume[i]
}
year_of_covid<-unlist(sound_list)
#Convert to a wav file.
u<-Wave(year_of_covid, samp.rate=sr, bit=32)
#play result
tuneR::play(u)
#save audio file to working directory
writeWave(u, "a_year_plus_of_covid.wav", extensible = TRUE)

View from twitter post: