Impact on player action based on the correlation between environmental game sounds and arousal level

Abstract: This study investigates the relationship between environmental game sounds and arousal level, looking to see if/how it affects player action. Previous research has shown that music evoking different levels of arousal affect player lap time performance of a racing game. For this study a computer game was created containing two levels, one with high arousal environmental sounds, and another with low arousal environmental sounds. The two levels were in different environments but had the same task, which was to place specific objects in their corresponding box, with the same color. The amount of time it took for subjects to finish the game under each sonic condition was the data of greatest interest. The results showed no significant difference between subjects elapsed times. However, a significant difference could be seen of how subjects perceived the energy level between the two levels in consideration to the sounding environment. Having this information when designing environmental sounds for a game could be something to think about and use when sound designers make decisions about player perceptibility and where to direct the player mindset to.