Video games have created a colorful and audible spectrum of the world. Audio is undoubtedly one of the most important aspects of video game production and design, for example, the great orchestras that accompany the bosses in some games or the squeak of a floorboard just before an enemy appears. But for deaf and hard-of-hearing (d/Deaf/HoH) gamers, these auditory cues can become a very significant problem.
This is not just about losing several splashes of ambiance, as would be the case if the order of colors had been switched – it’s a lot more severe than that. In those games where sound is most essential, it informs the player of the status – the sound of a weapon reloading, a monster’s growl, or a team member screaming when attacked. Losing these cues becomes disadvantageous to d/Deaf/HoH players because the reactions are delayed, or in most cases, they do not even know what is going on in the game.
This article revealed some fascinating solutions that developers may use to deal with this lack of accessibility. The first strategy, therefore, may be to make use of subtitles and captions. Such text transcripts of dialogue and audio cues are beneficial in providing d/Deaf/HoH players with descriptions of what is happening on the screen and the soundscape. However, that is not all there is to it. Just like with audio description, captions must include all dialogue and important background noises and sound effects that are essential in a game. Also, the clarity of the different speakers’ names and directions for off-camera sounds guarantees an effective presentation of the information.
Other than captions, there are other effective methods of improving the accessibility of videos, which include good uses of visual prompts. Think of a blinking icon on the screen to alert one of an incoming enemy ambush or a symbol representing the foot movements of a certain character in the picture. These visual representations essentially re-interpret the sound information and thus provide a balanced cover to ensure that the d/Deaf/HoH players are not disadvantaged.
Despite these solutions appearing self-explanatory, implementing accessibility features always involves problems for developers. They found out that tight development schedules and constrained resources may cause accessibility to be excluded. Also, some developers may be unfamiliar with the specifications of d/Deaf/HoH gamers or may not care for those people. This can cause features that are either implemented wrong or features that are just ineffective.
Here is where the gaming community can play a very important part. Those deaf and hard-of-hearing gamers can equally be very essential in the development of the new games. Being able to discuss their problems or provide their opinions about the currently implemented accessibility features and what can be effective or ineffective in enhancing their gaming experience is something that is rather important in order to educate developers regarding the implementation of successful and sensible approaches to designing accessible games.
However, there are variations in not only accessibility but also safety. In many online games, participants use voice chat to discuss or co-ordinate during the game. In turn, if d/Deaf/HoH players do not have access to this verbal communication, they can be essentially cut off from their team’s strategies or be left unaware of potential dangers from their colleagues. This is where well-selected features such as speech-to-text (STT) and text-to-speech (TTS) make the difference. STT enables the players to type messages that may be translated into voice for the team members, while TTS enables the player to listen to the voice communication of the team members translated into text.
In addition to the technical issues, there is an emotional factor that needs to be taken into account as well. Video games also enable people to engage with one another and, therefore, are an effective social instrument for building the feeling of togetherness and companionship. Developers then allow d/Deaf/HoH individuals to engage in this lively social world of gaming and form friendships and the social satisfaction that comes with it as other players.
Indeed, great progress has been made in providing gaming community options in the last few years, but work still has to be done. By adding audio descriptors as the game’s priority, developers can bring out the maximum potential of their games, so these virtual universes become easily accessible to anyone, including those who have lost their hearing abilities.
Both the developers and the players can unite to make the video games as diverse as they can so that everyone can permanently feel happy playing games from the feeling of victory to the feeling of being together during the different levels of gameplay.
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