The Sensory Dashboard

Interaction Pattern

Overview

A centralised, high-fidelity configuration interface - accessible at any time - that allows the user to decouple and modulate individual sensory channels. This dashboard moves beyond simple volume control to offer deep manipulation of the rendering pipeline and audio mixing buses.

Implementation Specification

Dedicated subsections for Audio Channels (Voice, Music, SFX, Background) and Visual Intensity (Brightness, Saturation, Contrast). Users can easily toggle between different audio channels to adjust their volume levels independently, and modify visual settings to create a more comfortable and personalised sensory environment. The dashboard also includes options to disable or suppress non-essential decorative elements to reduce cognitive load. Stochastic Resonance Control is integrated as an additional audio channel, allowing users to easily access and customise their noise preferences for a more focused environment. The Global Visual Intensity Control is also incorporated, providing users with a centralised location to adjust the overall visual intensity of their experience for optimal comfort and immersion.

To achieve the required granularity, the application’s architecture must categorise assets and signals into modifiable groups (buses or layers) at the engine level.

1. Audio Channel Architecture

The audio engine must not rely on a simple Master/SFX split. It requires a four-channel bus structure to allow users to isolate information-critical audio from immersive noise.

• Voice Bus: Dedicated strictly to dialogue, instructional narration, and screen reader output. This must remain isolatable to aid users with auditory processing challenges.
• Music Bus: Background scores and musical cues.
• SFX Bus: Diegetic sounds (interactions, footsteps, collisions).
• Background/Ambience Bus: Environmental loops (wind, hums, crowd noise). This is a frequent trigger for sensory overload and must be independently attenuable to 0%.

2. Visual Intensity & Post-Processing Stack

Visuals must be treated as a composite image where parameters can be adjusted in real-time via the post-processing stack, rather than baked textures.

• Brightness: Modulates the global exposure value (EV) of the camera.
• Saturation: Controls colour intensity. The range must allow for 0% (greyscale) to 100% (standard), and potentially >100% for users requiring hyper-vibrant differentiation.
• Contrast: Adjusts the separation between light and dark values to aid users with low vision or to reduce visual softness that may cause nausea.
• Global Visual Intensity: A master scalar that interpolates multiple values simultaneously (dimming brightness, reducing bloom, and lowering saturation) for a quick "panic" reduction.

3. Asset Hierarchy (Reduce Decorative Elements)

To support the "Reduce Decorative Elements" toggle, the environment design must utilise a tagging system (e.g., Tag: Decorative vs. Tag: Essential).

• Logic: When the toggle is active, the rendering engine culls or disables the mesh renderers of objects tagged Decorative (e.g., floating dust particles, complex wallpapers, grass sprites) while preserving Essential colliders and navigation markers. This reduces visual noise and cognitive load.

4. Neuro-Acoustic Stimulation (Stochastic Resonance)

• Logic: A toggle and intensity slider for Stochastic Resonance. This injects a controlled level of white or pink noise into the audio mix.
• Purpose: For certain neurodivergent profiles (e.g., ADHD), adding a specific threshold of random noise can paradoxically improve signal detection and focus through the phenomenon of stochastic resonance, stabilising the sensory input.

Reference Pattern

The User Interface for the Sensory Dashboard must be clear and immediately responsive.

Suggested Panel Structure:

The dashboard is divided into three distinct zones to prevent crowding and confusion:

Zone A: Audio Mixer
    Control Type: Vertical Faders (0–100%).
    Labels: Voice, Music, Effects, Background.
    Behaviour: Changes are audible immediately (real-time mixing) to allow the user to test comfort levels before returning to gameplay.
    
Zone B: Visual Calibration
    Control Type: Horizontal Sliders with numeric percentage indicators.
    Controls
        Brightness: Exposure adjustment.
        Saturation: Colour intensity adjustment.
        Contrast: Gamma/Contrast adjustment.
    Control Type: Toggle Switch.
        Reduce Decorative Elements: "On/Off". When "On", the background complexity visually simplifies immediately.
    
Zone C: Advanced Neuro-Regulation
    Control Type: Slider + Toggle.
        Global Visual Intensity: A master fader. At 100%, settings are default. As the slider decreases, it overrides Zone B settings to dampen all stimuli simultaneously.
        Stochastic Resonance: "On/Off" toggle with a "Density" slider. Provides a steady, masking audio texture to ground the user.

Interaction Note:

The menu itself must comply with Openality input standards: it must be summonable via gaze or a single button press, and all sliders must be manipulatable via simple ray-casting or gaze-and-dwell, without requiring complex wrist rotation.

Dependencies

Granular Environmental Control Behaviour: The Sensory Dashboard serves as the primary interface for users to access and adjust the granular controls for both audio and visual settings, allowing for a highly personalised sensory experience.

Environmental Perception Behaviour: The Sensory Dashboard provides users with the tools to disable or suppress non-essential decorative elements to reduce cognitive load.

Colour Independence Behaviour: The Sensory Dashboard uses the Colour Independence Behaviour to indicate values (e.g., "on/off" or "percentage") for all settings, ensuring that all information remains accessible to users with Colour Vision Deficiency (CVD).

The Stochastic Resonance Control: The Sensory Dashboard integrates the Stochastic Resonance Control as an additional audio channel, enabling users to easily access and customise their noise preferences for a more focused environment.

Global Visual Intensity Control: The Sensory Dashboard incorporates the Global Visual Intensity Control, providing users with a centralised location to adjust the overall visual intensity of their experience for optimal comfort and immersion.