Will O.Audio SDK have features for gamers with 1 ear weaker?

[RonsonPL]

Hi

In the following years, there will be growing percentage of people with hearing issues. The tendency is clear - more people have issues at younger age, and the issues are getting bigger.

Personally I am unfortunately one of them, so it's even more important to me to see such features available. In real life I have issues with guessing the source position of the sounds I hear. If I was to use the Rift with Audio SDK, it would be such a waste to not be able to utilize the advanced spatial audio solution Oculus works on.

I'd like to see this issue resolved on SDK level so no developer "forgets" to include the settings for hearing impaired.

First degree could be just a balance slider, easily accessible at any time in any game.

Second degree would require some investments from Oculus. For example Oculus could hire someone to analyze the issue of hearing less in one ear than the other.
It's not that simple. We don't loose all of the frequencies at once.
I'd love to see a calibration system, when the utility built-in in Oculus-SDK would poll me for answers, like:
- tell me when you hear this sound frequency
- tell me when you hear this sound coming from accurate direction (for example if the same sound is far from my left ear I don't have an idea whether it comes from the left or from behind, but if it gets closer or louder, the perceived position changes.

After the calibration, all games could utilize the settings. It could be binded to profiles so gamers could easily switch when passing the Rift to a friend.

I'd also love to see some safety features. For example real-time normalizer, that would filter too loud sounds/noises/pops/cracks etc. Preferably processing all the audio in the OS so VoIP communication could be influenced as well. Otherwise I either loose much of the presence by playing too silently, or I turn the volume up to hear steps, and a minute later I get my ears damaged by the explosion. The people who have hearing issues, often have condition comparable to "open wound" - my hearing gets permanently worse even from noise/sounds that wouldn't harm healthy person, and on top of that - when you loose hearing you have to turn the volume up, but the barrier after which the sound is damaging the ears, isn't changed, so people who suffer hearing issues would play games at louder settings, so the issue is getting more serious.

I know the chances for it are small. But please Cybereality, let the appropriate people at Oculus know about this thread. Even if it's not looking as a thing that should be taken care of right now, as I said earlier, the future will show this issue growing and influencing more and more people. So at some point it will be required to do anyway, so why not do this now rather than later? The costs for Oculus will be the same, but in this case, people who don't enjoy 100% perfect hearing, could enjoy better audio in VR in 2016 instead of 2020 or 2030. It might be even the only chance for us to hear almost normal again. In real life I cannot turn up the volume for my left eye without using additional device plugged in the ear (which isn't a marvelous cure and has its cons and flaws).



PS. Sorry Cybereality if I made this thread again. I think I created one about a year ago, moderator moved it to another category, but I can't find it now.
Or was it another forum? My memory isn't much better than my hearing, sorry :oops:

[IsoMacintosh]

While it would be nice to see features for people with ear and eye problems is it really something we can expect. Spending huge amounts of money and time for features for minorities is not the best thing for oculus at least now IMHO.
Maybe you could buy a EQ to fix your problem?

[RonsonPL]

IsoMacintosh

It won't work as intended. The matter is a little more complicated than that.
And about the costs - that's why I suggested at least a "general" slider, not game-dependant.
It would not costs more than 20 minutes of work of one person if I guess right about how Oculus audio SDK will work.
I think Oculus can afford that. 😉

As to the proper support, I still don't expect the costs to be that big, and as I said - this problem will affect more and more people, probably even more than 50% of VR users in just a few years from now, not more than a decade. So if it's going to cost anyway, I think it's better to spend the same amount of money now, instead of later.

About the real-time audio "guard" that would keep the users safe - I think VR means more people playing games on headphones than ever before. It IMHO is a really important matter to save millions of people from self-damaging their hearing.
I can be wrong about the costs. But still...

[Petroza]

Hi RonsonPL,

I believe most of these issues you have raised are already solved in the OS, looking specifically at Windows:

Here are instructions on setting the audio balance in Windows: http://www.nextofwindows.com/how-to-adj ... -windows-7

Regarding safety features, there is "normalizer" (AKA limiter) in Windows as well, that is mostly there to prevent damaging speakers rather than hearing.

There is a loudness equalization feature in the enhancements that sounds like it does what you need:
http://lifehacker.com/5986236/normalize ... on-setting

-Pete

[RonsonPL]

"PeterStirling" wrote:
Hi RonsonPL,

I believe most of these issues you have raised are already solved in the OS, looking specifically at Windows:

Here are instructions on setting the audio balance in Windows: http://www.nextofwindows.com/how-to-adj ... -windows-7

Regarding safety features, there is "normalizer" (AKA limiter) in Windows as well, that is mostly there to prevent damaging speakers rather than hearing.

There is a loudness equalization feature in the enhancements that sounds like it does what you need:
http://lifehacker.com/5986236/normalize ... on-setting

-Pete

Thanx for the reply.

About the W7 slider - If it's independent for HMD headphones vs. the normal speaker setup, then OK, but it's still far from what could be done for VR. I have friends who don't even realize their audio source positioning is not working 100% as it should, they just have it like this all their lives. It could be surprising when someone does a research and checks this. I'm afraid the percentage of people who would benefit from additional features for VR HMDs in 2016-2017" would be surprisingly high (i.e. absolutely not below 5%). As I said - the simple slider is not the solution VR needs. It's better than nothing, sure, but something done by the professional team, with sound divided for the frequencies and such - would result in MUCH better immersion for those who don't enjoy perfectly good hearing.

About the W7 normalizer - the problems:
- I don't have this options (good old Audigy 2, the irony is - it has its own DSP which could do that)
- the performance could suffer in VR games, where CPU and latency are important. I have no idea about the sound code paths in W7/8/10 though.
- it won't work separately for VoIP and the game. Oculus seems to be focused on social aspect of VR, so it's important even for 100% healthy users, to have some features that blocks pops, clicks and other noises, created by oversteered input (coughing) etc.
- won't do it "the smart way". Won't be linked to profiles. I wish I could easily switch the profile when I pass the HMD to my friend. Oculus put a lot of effort for adjustable IPDs. Seems to me it would fit their strategy here.

[noisecrime]

"PeterStirling" wrote:
Hi RonsonPL,

I believe most of these issues you have raised are already solved in the OS, looking specifically at Windows:

Here are instructions on setting the audio balance in Windows: http://www.nextofwindows.com/how-to-adj ... -windows-7

I've yet to get to grips with the audio SDK, just about to delve into it. However the above solution will not help in my particular case and I wanted to make sure that Oculus are aware of it.

Specifically i'm completely deaf in one ear, have been since birth and its a defect that cannot be fixed. As such I would hope that part of the SDK would have methods to deal with this. At the most basic level I would think a simple mono output option should suffice, though i'd love to see some work put into this to try and retain some features such as distance, but ensures that no sound can never not be heard in both ears.

Without this I fear that as games continue to push 3D/binaural audio may make themselves difficult to play for a subset of compromised players like myself.

[RonsonPL]

It seems I won't get the Oculus attention on this topic, sadly 😞
Meanwhile another news about quickly expanding problem with the hearing.
20% of kids in Poland have issues with the hearing, already.
Many people aren't even aware they have the problem.

And with time, hearing is worsening even without harmful conditions. Even if you'd live in 100% quiet environment, your hearing will be worse at the age of 40 compared to the age of 20. On top of that, you have to add the noises people are exposed in normal life, and carelessness.

As I said - this problem will quickly grow to a huge problem. Oculus WILL HAVE TO deal with it at some point. The amount of work will be the same in 2050 as in 2015, so please, do this now, so people can benefit from it in 2016-2020, instead of waiting longer (I think by 2020 the problem will grow enough to be noticed by Facebook).

[drash]

"noisecrime" wrote:
I've yet to get to grips with the audio SDK, just about to delve into it. However the above solution will not help in my particular case and I wanted to make sure that Oculus are aware of it.

Specifically i'm completely deaf in one ear, have been since birth and its a defect that cannot be fixed. As such I would hope that part of the SDK would have methods to deal with this. At the most basic level I would think a simple mono output option should suffice, though i'd love to see some work put into this to try and retain some features such as distance, but ensures that no sound can never not be heard in both ears.

Good news for you (and me), using the Oculus Audio SDK means that you will hear more like you'd hear in reality. If your left ear is deaf, you will still hear a sound coming from your left with your right ear, and you'll mostly be able to discern where it's coming from using your real-world experience with the way sounds change as they travel around your head vs arrive at your good ear directly.

So now the challenge is just getting all devs to use the Audio SDK for their 3D positional audio!