A method, apparatus and system for transforming a progressing sound signal into a progressing visual pattern, the progressing visual pattern being perceptible and recognizable as the progressing sound signal to a user in real time. The progressing visual pattern displays in real time a set of optical attributes, the set of optical attributes being transformations from a set of sound features that define the sound signal in real time. The sound features and optical attributes, along with changes in the sound features and optical attributes over time, are preselected to be isomorphic to sound, perceptible to human vision, efficiently processed by human cognition, and therefore to be recognizable to a human who has been exposed and actively or passively trained to it.