Hearing Sounds Through Different Ears: A Video Game Case Study

This article seeks to demonstrate that different listening vantage points and types of listeners are established in open world video games to create meaning and immersion. Using Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014) as a case study, I analyze its sound image through Smalley’s concept of space-form (2007) to find these points. Even though all sound is spatialized in the sound-image, not all sounds are located in the 3D navigation space. Positioned and non-positioned sounds (in reference to the player character) lead us to understand there’s a combination of both peripatetic and fixed listeners during the gameplay. In the case study, by soundwalking in one of the game’s zones we conclude there is an overlap of listening vantage points that do not refer to the same space. This helps the players have a holistic view of the soundscape, making it more favorable to express meaning through the ambience’s sound design.