An auditory representation method is used to generate an audible signal which characterizes the instantaneous value of a rhythmical parameter such as the pulse of a human patient. A periodic signal (15) from a sensor (10) is standardized by a pulse detector (20) to generate a shaped pulse sequence (25) which is inputted to a pulse interval decoder (30). The pulse interval decoder (30) generates a pulse interval length signal (35) which represents the current pulse interval length at any one time. An audio signal generator (40) then produces an audible signal having characteristics such as frequency (pitch) which characterize the current pulse interval length. A system and device for carrying out the method are also described.
