From Sound to Sensation
Lowering Video Game Audio Levels Through Haptic Feedback
Grade: Excellence
Sept. 2024 - Jan. 2025
Individual Research Project
In Collaboration With: HapticLabs
Unity
User Experience
Research-through Design
Haptic Feedback
Sound Design
Multi Modal Effects
Context
Recent reports from the world health organisation show that over 70% of gamers wearing headphones have volume too loud, which may be leading to a global generation of people prone to noise induced hearing loss
This project explores how adding haptic feedback to the gaming experience could help players lower their listening levels.
Framing
The research started by conducting intitial user probes to understand the listening and audio experience of three different gamers. They recorded gameplay clips of audio fragments, and reflected on daily gaming activities using a questionnaire.
The results were analysed by plotting the short term loudness over time. :
The large dynamic range causes players to turn up the audio volume to hear the quietest sounds, such as footsteps and subtle sound effects, in order to gain an advantage over their opponents.
Following this analysis, an extensive literature research led to the following opportunity space :
Could haptic feedback compensate for loud audio peaks, encouraging safer listening habits?
Prototyping
My first directions focussed on prototyping haptic hearables—vibrations around the ear, and looked at different ways to achieve this (mainly strings).
. I used a Unity script to analyze audio effects generating a real-time haptic curve sent to an Arduino via serial.
However, what i noticed was a delay in start and stop of the vibrations of the haptic motor. AC-based actuators require more complex drivers to handle polarity shifts and overdrive. To refine these effects quickly, I searched for a solution untill stumbling uon the compay HapticLabs
HapticLabs
HapticLabs makes software and a prototyping kit in order to quickly realize and program haptic feedback effects.
I used their software and satellite kit to program and play custom haptic effects based on in game interactions.
Final Prototypes
To investigate, I developed two haptic prototypes:
Haptic Wristband (Mouse Hand)
Built with a small HapticLabs satellite board and two actuators (one on top of the wrist, one beneath). Triggered in real time by Unity events (e.g., gunfire, reloading).
Haptic Wrist Rest (Keyboard Hand)
Embedded a Dayton Audio TT25-8 “bass shaker” inside a wooden wrist rest. Filtered low-frequency audio (under ~150Hz) using Ableton Live, then amplified it so explosions and ambient rumbles could be felt rather than just heard.
Implementation & Testing
7 participants each played these levels twice: once with haptics off, once with them on.
They wore consistent headphones (Beyerdynamic DT 770).
Volume adjustments were logged automatically.
Afterward, I led semi-structured interviews to capture subjective impressions (immersion, perceived loudness, comfort).
I designed a custom Unity first-person shooter using pre-fab assets with three short levels:
Shooting Range (basic gunfire)
Explosives Level (grenades, RPG blasts)
Combined Scenario (gunfire + explosions + loud music)
Findings
Using deductive coding of the interview & statistical analysis in jupyter notebook, the following results were concluded from my research:
Mixed Volume Changes: More then half the participants lowered their final volume with haptics active, citing “I can still feel the action—so I don’t need it as loud.” The others ironically turned it up, enjoying the “full synergy” of combined vibrations plus loud audio.
No Significant Group Effect: Statistical tests showed no universal drop in volume. Individual differences and “novelty” played a big role.
Immersion & Comfort: Most reported heightened immersion and a sense of “presence” from vibrations. A few also felt less ear strain when turning the sound down.
Conclusion
Despite not finding statistically signicant effects on volume re- duction, the mixed-methods evidence—particularly participants’ qualitative reflections—demonstrates that wearable haptic feedback holds promise for potentially encouraging safer listening levels. It may not uniformly reduce decibel exposure but can offer an alter- native sensory channel that replaces some auditory intensity for certain users. These findings affirm the theoretical perspective that multisensory integration is multi-directional, and practical adoption in gaming audio design may hinge on personalization, stronger haptic cues, and more sophisticated integration of tactile and auditory signals
