Dr Stuart Cunningham from Manchester Metropolitan University, and Dr Iain McGregor from Edinburgh Napier University need your help.
The researchers are looking into listeners’ preferences when it comes to video game audio levels and reproduction hardware.
They have created an online survey to find out more about how you listen to in-game audio. You will be asked to answer 46 short online questions, (which should take around 15 minutes). Specifically, you’ll be asked questions about the hardware you use to listen to game audio, and any modifications that you make to the levels of the dialogue, music and sound effects.
According to Doctors Cunningham & Gregor:
“Identifying the range of variation that exists with regards to audio reproduction, may allow for an overall improvement of surround sound through correction factors tailored according to gamers’ settings.
“The results might also be of interest to those designing video games, in respect of identifying the relative importance of different stems from a gamer’s perspective, providing information about how each auditory element could be mixed, with minimum user intervention.”
With more insight into how different players on different devices tend to treat audio, you could be help games created in the near future make better, simpler sonic choices.
All of the responses to the survey will be anonymised, stored on a secure cloud service, and not shared with any other parties. The anonymised results will be presented at an audio conference, once, you know, conferences become things we do again.
As ardent and expert gamers, and of course industry types, your help and support would be greatly appreciated.
