Current Solutions to Auditory Problems

One of the most prevalent forms of impairment that affects gamers in the U.S. is auditory impairments. Over 28 millions people are affected by some form of hearing impairment in the U.S. We want to to try to create a better gaming experience for all kinds of disabilites and in this particualr section we will talk about a solution for auditory disabilites.

Examples

These are some of the current solutions that are recommended for developers to accommodate gamers with auditory impairments.

Captions and Subtitles

Add in close caption on dialogues, with options to turn them on an off. These text options would apply to not only dialogue between characters but also if a gamer is playing with others.

A remote with an option for subtitles.

Textual and Tactile Feedback

Provide a textual or a tactile (vibration) for feedback on the screen or with the controller. This, for example, could be when there is an enemy close by in addition to beeping that happens, a vibration could also happen and a indicator could appear on the screen.

A view of the game Overwatch where a player has been hit and we can see that there were damages taken based on the edges of the screen.

Community Chat Rooms

Another option that has been suggested through research, is having online chat rooms, instead of voice communication. This will still allow gamers to communicate and play with each other in the gaming community.

An example of a chatroom in the game Call of Duty.

Proposed Solutions

Sound Settings

A solution that we propose for people that have minimal or partial hearing loss is having an option to change the decibal levels. This would mean adding in a settings option or an extra pop up that allows the user to alter the ranges in which the sounds will play in the range that they choose.

We can see that there is a setting panel here that has audio options

How to Implement

This is a Unity lesson on Sound Effects and Scripting:

Additional Resources:

Additional Text and Indicators

Adding in more text and indicators would also be useful for getting close to enemies, fighting, to complement the sounds that are normally used as signals to players.

How to Implement

Here is a Youtube tutorial by Unity that walks the developer through adding subtitles to a game:

Here is another Youtube tutorial on guidelines and more information about well formatted subtitles following good accessibility guidelines:

Sources

1. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/dxtecharts/accessibility-best-practices
2. https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/deaf-gamers-making-gaming-more-accessible/
3. https://medium.com/@jasper.stephenson/a-ux-analysis-of-first-person-shooter-damage-indicators-59ac9d41caf8