Cannes Lions
VMLY&R, Sao Paulo / DELL / 2023
Awards:
Overview
Entries
Credits
Background
Dell has been using technology to lead community-centric initiatives supporting inclusion in the digital world.
This time, the challenge was to make competitive gaming more inclusive for deaf people, through its brand Alienware.
Because, as you know, the in-game audio is more than the soundtracks.
It's an essential multidimensional tool for gameplay.
The company's objective was not to raise awareness of the situation.
Not even make people think about this.
The objective was to find a solution. A real solution.
In other words, to create something that completely changes the gaming experience for deaf people.
Making Dell and Alienware lead the gaming industry's mission of inclusion and empowerment.
A Dell’s sub-brand that has the purpose and slogan Defy Boundaries.
Of course, using the core business of both brands: technology.
Idea
The Gaming Cap is a first-of-its-kind hardware that translates 360º sounds in games into 360º vibrations.
Which allows deaf people to feel the gaming sounds they can't hear.
The innovative device was designed and developed through extensive research and tests in partnership with Able Gamers (accessibility in gaming NGO), AME (Brazilian renowned accessibility NGO), and the local deaf community.
This wearable device is compatible with all major gaming franchises and will be included in Dell's global portfolio as a free ad-on for the hearing-impaired.
By developing The Gaming Cap, Dell and Alienware transformed once for all the gaming experience for deaf people.
It's a breakthrough step in the path of a more inclusive gaming world.
A true game changer in the wellbeing of deaf gamers.
As brands with a historic commitment to raising the inclusion, and promoting a better life through technology, that also means a powerful walk-the-talk.
Strategy
The Gaming Cap was created FOR deaf people and WITH deaf people.
Everything started when we found out how they felt about the gaming experience: the multidimensional audio was an insurmountable barrier for them.
It's an entire community, a +300MM audience, that was feeling excluded.
Once the problem was verified, the development of the solution was started.
During the process, The Gaming Cap had consultancies from accessibility experts and inclusion specialists.
Like ABLE GAMERS (accessibility in gaming) and AME (inclusion of people with disabilities).
After months of development, the device that turns 360º gaming audio into 360º vibrations was concluded.
While the technology sector was developing it, other teams were working on how to turn the wearable device into something aesthetical.
The Gaming Cap had 100% approval in all tests with the deaf people with profound deafness.
Execution
The Gaming Cap works through the digitization of analog signals that are classified into frequencies and amplitudes.
Applying multiple filters to the incoming 360º gaming sounds, the device is able to minimize noise, isolate the desired frequencies and translate those into pulses and vibrations.
First, audio from the source comes into the device.
Then frequencies are separated into ranges that are converted into pulses.
Those pulses travel through the device to different actuators and deliver the desired 360º experience through vibrations.
The Gaming Cap was developed by a multidisciplinary team of engineers, audio engineers, accessibility specialists and inclusion consultants. And, above all, alongside the deaf gaming community, involved from the proof of concept version until the final device.
Guaranteeing the best experience for deaf people according to the public that matters the most: themselves.
Outcome
The Gaming Cap had a 100% approval in all tests with deaf community. All participants felt that it completely changed the gaming experience.
As Isabella Theodoro, a participant, said "now I understand how gamers that can hear feel". Rafael Rugo Pereira said "I feel like someone borrowed me a pair of ears". Ana Emilia, another deaf gamer, said that "It feels like I am inside the game, really playing".
The Gaming Cap will be included in Dell's global portfolio as a free ad-on for those who are hearing-impaired. And it is also in a patent process in Brazil.
Dell and Alieware took the first step in the path for real wellbeing and a truly inclusive gaming world for deaf people.
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