Causing Fear, Suspense, and Anxiety Using Sound Design in Computer Games - Game Sound Technology and Player Interaction: Concepts and Developments - page 183

instance, when an enemy ambush in a game be-
gins, an appropriate sound effect accompanies the
ambush (the game sound is highly synchronized
with the visible event), such as a door swinging
open or glass shattering. The intended purpose of
these synchronized sound effects can be to sur-
prise or startle the player, which can promote fear.
While many survival horror games use ambushes
regularly, such as the majority of encounters in
Dead Space and Doom 3 , Silent Hill 2 seldom uses
ambushes to scare the player. Rather, this game
does the opposite by playing a radio static sound
loop, emanating from the avatar's pocket radio,
to warn players of nearby enemies. The player
quickly learns that the white noise is a forewarn-
ing of an imminent attack. This lagging technique,
coupled with the extremely limited visibility in
the game, causes players to search for the source
of the static whenever they hear it. Players know
that a dangerous situation is nearby, which often
causes players to feel suspense. This forewarning
is an emotional and cognitive cue for problem
solving (Perron, 2004). Untimed environmental
sound effects are present in Alone in the Dark
and Silent Hill 2 . In these games, sounds such as
crackling fire, whistling wind, or shaking earth
are seemingly set to play at random.

sounds help to immerse the player by bridging the
reality gap between the game and real physical
environments (Liljedahl, 2011). Some examples
of ambient sound effects are leaking ventilation
shafts in Alone in the Dark , sparking electrical
wires in Dead Space , and rustling leaves in Eter-
nal Darkness , which are all visible to the player
when played. These ambient sound effects also
help set the mood of the game for players, which
may encourage players to appraise objects and
events in the game as scary.
In Silent Hill 2 , however, most ambient sound
effects have no visible source. Players of Silent
Hill 2 are unable to find the source of these sounds
(that is, acousmatic sounds), such as babies cry-
ing, discordant wind chimes clanging together,
and tricycle bells ringing. Furthermore, monsters'
sounds are mixed at low volume within the non-
diegetic music (Roux-Girard, 2011). These sound
production techniques add a strong air of mystery
and ambiguity between sound generators (Roux-
Girard, 2011), which may cause anxiety.
Based on the literature and field review, our
experimental hypothesis for designing sound
effects for fear and anxiety is as follows: high
volume, synchronized sound with the correspond-
ing visual stimulus, and visibly sourced sound
effects are more effective at creating fear, and
low to medium volume, scary, eerie or mysterious
acousmatic sound effects are more effective at
creating anxiety, with no difference between timed
and untimed sound effects for anxiety. The authors
believe that if the source of the sound effect can
be seen by the player then the synchresis of timing
with the visible threat becomes salient, promoting
veridicality (Collins et al., 2011; Roux-Girard,
2011) and resulting in the player feeling fear. If
the source cannot be seen, that is, acousmatic
sounds, then synchresis is not achieved and the
player cannot determine the relationship between
what the player sees and what the player hears: this
should promote anxiety. If the sound effect is not
timed with the visible threat, then the sound effect
will probably be ignored and will not promote

source of sound Effects

According to psychoacoustic theories, humans
judge whether a sound comes from an appropriate
source by the visible availability of a source and
whether or not that source could sensibly create that
sound (Healy, Proctor, & Weiner, 2003). Almost
all games have clearly visible sources for their
sound effects, such as the sound of an attacking
enemy. Providing a visible source of sound helps
the player determine what to do within the game
and helps the player navigate through the game
by listening (Grimshaw, 2008), and enhances the
player's avatar survival prospects (Roux-Girard,
2011). For instance, the player can listen for the
location of monsters. Furthermore, ambient game