Making a video game accessible for hearing impaired individuals : Exploring Visual Aid, Closed Captions and Haptics for hearing accessibility

Sammanfattning

Sound design is an essential aspect of a game and often conveys important information to the player via sound. However, the same audio cue may be completely inaccessible to individuals with hearing impairment. WHO (2024) states that hearing impairment is the third leading disability in the world today and therefore hearing accessibility will need a bigger role within game development. This study will investigate existing audio accessibility features in games such as closed captions, visual aid and haptics and analyse how well they have been received and performed. The objective of the study was to bring forth and implement different accessibility features into our video game in order to meet the needs of hearing impaired individuals. These accessibility features were then tested in two different playtests with questionnaires at the end. By the data it was possible to conclude that the accessibility features were positively met. There is always room for improvement however, such as the haptics used to convey the footsteps of the antagonist. Based on the data from the two playtests it was also concluded that this study had succeeded in meeting the needs of hearing impaired individuals, which is a step towards a much needed accessible future.