Familiarity Vs Performance: the Link Between Gaming Experience and Audio Recognition

This paper investigates the relationship between prior gaming experience and performance of first-person shooter (FPS) in audio-reliant tasks within sound-only environments. We conducted a study with 22 participants (18 male, 3 female, 1 non-binary; age range = 18–35 years) using a modified audio-enhanced version of ViZDoom, testing two scenarios ("basic" and "deadly corridor") under vision and non-vision conditions. Participants were categorized into three familiarity groups based on self-reported FPS experience. Results indicate that higher familiarity correlated with faster task completion and improved target engagement in both visual and non-visual modes, with performance gaps widening in the more complex non-vision scenario. While limited by sample size, these findings suggest that prior gaming skills may reduce disorientation and enhance spatial audio recognition, particularly in challenging sound-only environments.