Back to the context | Solution section for our topic – Digital Games for the Blind

“Many (though not all) of the new games take advantage of the huge technological
advance, which is starting to transform audio games, in the form of ‘3D’ or ‘binaural’
audio” [6]. Therefore, it is apparent that Binaural Recording can play a major role in this
field.
It captivated developers so much because, it ”simulates the hearing cues created by
acoustic interaction between our bodies and the environment around us”[1]and, “can
be used to create a richer sense of space in programme sound, giving a more exciting
and immersive listening experience .”[1]
Similarly, what binaural audio can provide is what blind people need, as the Japanese
creator Kenji Eno declared that, he “received mail from some of the blind community
that enjoyed his previous games because of the music and sound effects”.[2]
“Binaural recordings are made using two microphones in ear-like cavities either side of
a device which recreates the density and shape of a human head.”[1] The reason why
this technique works it’s because it “allows sound to be modified as it travels through
the (dummy) head, so each ear picks up slightly different sound from the other”[3]. An
example of a dummy used in the recording process is showed in the figure 2.
The price is also encouraging as it is “very accessible and doesn’t require any expensive
sound system, a simple pair of headphones is enough to experience a wide and spherical
sound.”
In contrast, however, creating a videogame “where binaural audio must be part of the
audio design from the start“[4] can be a laborious task, and there are areas where it can
still improve such as in “the creation of custom, person-specific, HRTF equations that
adjust to the shape and features of the player’s ears and head.”[4]

Upon further research, Binaural Audio revealed itself to be a significant improvement to

the gameplay of videogames developed specifically for blind people. As we observed in
[5], “the concept is being adopted by a growing number of games designers, to help
make the industry more accessible to blind and visually impaired people”.
 Bibliography

[1] P. Chris, “Binaural Sound - BBC R&D,” 2012. [Online]. Available:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/projects/binaural-broadcasting. [Accessed: 30-Mar-
2019].
[2] J. Swarts, “A Look at Audio Games, Video Games For the Blind | Inverse,” March
25, 2016. [Online]. Available: https://www.inverse.com/article/13331-a-look-at-
audio-games-video-games-for-the-blind. [Accessed: 17-May-2019].
[3] N. Lopez, “Sennheiser’s short film shows the power of binaural audio,” September
17, 2018. [Online]. Available:
https://thenextweb.com/plugged/2018/09/17/sennheisers-short-film-shows-
the-power-of-binaural-audio/. [Accessed: 17-May-2019].
[4] S. Junkies, “Behind the scene – Binaural Audio – Ubisoft Blog.” [Online]. Available:
https://spacejunkiesgame.com/behind-the-scene-binaural-audio/. [Accessed:
18-May-2019].
[5] C. Brennan, “‘Video-less’ 3D games developed for blind players - BBC News,”
2014. [Online]. Available: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28757186.
[Accessed: 31-Mar-2019].
[6] “Video and computer games for people with vision impairment,” Monday, 15
February 2016. [Online]. Available: https://www.rnib.org.uk/nb-online/video-
computer-games-people-vision-impairment.