XR Commandment #8 - Engage All the Senses

In short: don’t just focus on visuals; audio is crucial for immersion. Consider other senses (Touch? Taste?) where feasible.

8️⃣ 8th post in this series on the 10 XR Commandments, and the one most teams postpone until the final steps: multisensory design. Even the most beautiful visuals can fall flat without audio, and the best user experience can be much more immersive with physical elements: vibrations, wind, or scent.

Remember: our brain gets constant input from all senses. If what you hear and feel matches what you see, the illusion wins!

Four ways to wake up the senses

• Sound is necessary. Use spatial audio: the sound is located in the 3D space, its volume and perceived direction adjust with distance and position. It sounds (pun intended) trivial, but the impact of audio is underrated. Don’t forget User Interface sounds - they make the user experience easier to understand.
• Narration, voice-over in multiple languages, complete visuals, and can transform a dull, visual-only experience into an immersive journey; mandatory in museums and cultural experiences. Don’t forget accessibility - provide subtitles or illustrations if appropriate.
• Use physicality. We dive into this more in Commandment #7, as it’s worth its own article: don’t just stand there! Have your users move in space, look around, move, and turn: the body remembers.
• Related: use touch - in the general sense: Trigger the controllers’ vibrations in VR to enhance actions. In Location-Based XR, use floor vibrations synced with the content. Implement fans coupled with heat/cold. With these tricks, you can completely manipulate the user’s perception, make them feel they are in a large room or a confined space, just by adjusting their physical perceptions!
• And finally, if your setup allows it, add scent. A bit more tricky to control than the rest, if clever design, it can be the final touch in engaging all senses for a complete immersive experience.

Reversal: The Power of Silence

A stealth mission game, a meditation app, or a horror jump-scare works *because* we remove stimuli. Sensory subtraction can be as dramatic as sensory overload! Use it deliberately.

Building something immersive? If it’s running muted, we need to talk. 😉