That sounds like a real barrier. I think it is possible that a piece of scientific work will not get taken seriously if it uses sonification instead of visualization. I also agree that reviewers would need to be able to “read” data sonificaiton, which makes it all the more important to have a common language for sonification.
But maybe journals wouldn’t have an issue if sonification could be submitted as supplementary material? I know in some fields authors also write shorter, less-technical summaries of their work for wider dissimination. Maybe sonification can be useful there. Though these do not typically have career benifits.