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Audio Radar is an LED sound indicator for the hard of hearingLight-up gadget highlights positional sound cues
Light-up gadget highlights positional sound cues
Peripheral makers AirDrop Gaming have announced a crowdfuning campaign for Audio Radar, a potentially useful accessory for PC gamers who are deaf or hard of hearing. Audio Radar is a set of six LED strips that surround your monitor and flash to signify the direction of important sound cues, and itsIndiegogo campaignit set to launch on October 15th.
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The strips use RGB LEDs that can be customised for colour and brightness, and connect via a control hub to an HDMI 2.1 port on your graphics card. Audio Radar uses 7.1 surround sound data to detect and visualise where sounds are coming from, hence the need for a connection with audio transfer, though you can use it regardless of whether you choose HDMI or DisplayPort as your monitor connection.
There are limits to the tech, however. As Audio Radar relies on 7.1 surround sound data, games that support this standard – includingPUBGandCall of Duty Cold War– should work, but those that only support 5.1 surround sound seemingly won’t have specific sounds picked up. Ahnestly noticed this inCounter-Strike: Global Offensive, where multiple LED strips would light up at point-blank gunfire but couldn’t track moving footsteps like they could in PUBG.
Even so, it all seems like a worthwhile idea. That shouldn’t be taken as an endorsement of the Indiegogo campaign – buying into any crowdfunded product carries its risks – but if you do want to back it, you can do so when it launches next week. Pricing is to be confirmed, though Airdrop Gaming founder Tim Murphy tells me they’re “targeting” $379 at retail and $299 for Indiegogo pre-orders.
