Sonomancer: Exploring Sonic Control Schemes for Audio Augmented Reality Games
Jacob Bhattacharyya, Alessandro Vinciarelli, Stephen Anthony Brewster · Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction · 2025
Audio augmented reality (AAR) games allow for audio-only game experiences which blend real and virtual worlds. Despite being sound-based in their output, these games utilise a small number of control schemes, and rarely deploy control schemes that are also sonic in nature. We present the first evaluation of sonic control schemes for AAR gameplay. We present a systematic literature review that collates the control schemes and game scenarios deployed in existing AAR games, and a user study comparing these traditional control schemes with sonic controls -- speech, music, and sonic gesture -- in minigames corresponding to the most common game scenarios. Our results show that while there are some key differences between these control schemes, sonic controls show promise for use in AAR gameplay, and could be deployed in scenarios where AAR developers currently reach for established control schemes.