EMPATHY
An Auditory Simulator
Prototype Intent
Use EQ patterns in a VR space simulating a concert environment to simulate hearing damage and loss to evoke a response in the user to help them understand the struggles of people with damaged hearing
This Project was developed at the Emergent Media Center in Burlington Vermont.
Platform - PC/Steamworks
Development time: Fall 2018
Developed with - Unity, C#,
[Research]
Frequencies lost in hearing loss.
Frequencies lost in hearing loss.
The concept of Empathy came from frustrations with the way games conveyed how disability works and effects people. As a person with hearing damage and a specialty in sounds, I sought to create a moment that would let a normal hearing person experience a loss they weren't used to so they could have some understanding of hearing damage.
Using what I knew about music production and mixing for SFX, i reasoned that since EQ is a tool used to control frequencies that I could effectively lessen the player's ability to fully detect things they'd other find normal.
Before starting digital work, I had the opportunity to visit the University of Vermont Medical Center's currently held expo on technology and accessibility, where I had the chance to use hearing assistive devices for myself to see how what Hz adjustments they made. This had a profound effect on the finished prototype, which sought to boost similar frequencies.