Silent Suspense

Horror films derive much of their scariness from suspense, a feeling of anxious anticipation that builds as audiences wait for something frightening to happen. A huge part of creating this suspense comes from the audio—the background music and sound effects. These sounds create the film’s rhythm of suspense, guiding audiences through the narrative’s pace and building anticipation for emotional climaxes.

However, for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) audiences, this crucial layer of sound-driven immersion remains largely inaccessible. They often struggle to fully engage with horror films because they cannot experience the emotional tension that sound provides.

While current accessibility efforts include audio descriptions in subtitles, simply reading what’s happening on screen and what kind of audio is playing cannot effectively convey the tense atmosphere that audio creates in horror films.

To address this issue, we propose leveraging various tactile feedbacks, which have proven effective in augmenting music experience for DHH audiences. In particular, our main focus is on investigating tactile modalities that move beyond widely studied vibration-based approaches, aiming to examine the untapped potential of these alternative channels for horror media accessibility.

This project proposes four novel wrist-worn tactile devices designed to help DHH audiences better immerse themselves in horror films through embodied sensory experiences. Rather than attempting to replicate or replace sound, our system translates the tension-and-release dynamics of horror movies into four distinct tactile sensations: texture, locomotion, temperature, and pressure.

To understand how these tactile approaches can make horror films more accessible, we conducted a user study with 12 DHH participants, evaluating each prototype’s ability to enhance narrative engagement and trigger emotional responses.

Our work contributes to creating more accessible media experiences by exploring how diverse tactile modalities can enhance cinematic experiences for DHH audiences, offering insights for more inclusive technologies.