Sound Preferences of Deaf and Hard of Hearing People Playing an Audio-Based Computer Game

We performed an experiment to investigate differences between deaf and hard of hearing people and hearing people when playing an audio-based game on a tablet computer, and how deaf and hard of hearing people appreciated the game when they played it with three different types of sound material— speech, music, or mixed speech and music. We analyzed game log files and participants’ self-assessments and obtained results showing that there were significant differences between the two participant groups in terms of whether they completed the game. Moreover, the deaf and hard of hearing group showed a preference for music among the three types of sounds and for the game itself. The two groups listened to music in different ways: hearing participants worked with the music material differently compared with other two types of material, implying that music is the most difficult among the three types. The finding of the preference for music only by the deaf and hard of hearing group is consistent with the results from preliminary experiments we have done. We suggest that the game has the potential to improve the listening ability of deaf and hard of hearing people.