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Sound Design for Video Games: Interactive Audio and Player Experience
Sound design in video games has emerged as an interdisciplinary field that combines creativity, technology, and psychology to enhance player experience. Unlike linear media, where audio is predictable and sequential, video game sound must dynamically adapt to player actions, decisions, and contextual changes. This working paper presents a preliminary analysis of the role of interactive audio in building immersion, feedback, and emotion within gaming environments, based on a literature review and an applied case study using the FMOD middleware integrated into Unity.
Findings from specialized literature show that adaptive music, capable of responding to environmental shifts and the emotional state of the player, significantly increases immersion and connection with the virtual world (Hutchings & McCormack, 2019). Likewise, recent studies indicate that sound effects play a central role in shaping game atmosphere, often perceived as more critical than music in reinforcing narrative and sensory coherence (Andersen et al., 2021). From a social perspective, sound design also contributes to inclusivity and accessibility, offering additional cues to players with diverse abilities and fostering more equitable experiences (Guillén et al., 2021).
Moreover, research on serious games demonstrates that sound not only improves immersion but also enhances motivation, cognition, and knowledge acquisition (Cao et al., 2025). This aligns with studies highlighting the value of audio as an informative channel, providing orientation through alerts, directional cues, and immediate feedback (Ng & Nesbitt, 2013). Finally, the applied case using FMOD and Unity confirms the technical feasibility of implementing dynamic audio in both educational and entertainment projects, showing that sound design is a fundamental axis of interactivity in contemporary video games.
