Out of all the human senses, sight is probably the one that has the highest bandwidth and carries the most information. I’ll say that hearing probably comes second, thus you would think: if you want to recreate a specific ambiance or atmosphere for a movie or video game, for example, vision will be playing a larger role than audition? Surprisingly I think the opposite is true.

Why so? I found that movies and videos games with amazing soundtracks and sound effects are more immersive and the graphics are not playing a role as big as we think here. Maybe it’s just me? Remember this last 3D movie you’ve seen? (Yeah I know, that was probably a long time ago.) After the 5 first minutes, you get used to it and move your attention out of it, that becomes normal and does not carry much information anymore. Remember that black and white movie you watched? Same thing, your brain gets used to it quickly, and after 5 minutes it’s forgotten.

My point here is, we are very visual beings, once you get some visual context, your brain fills out the gaps and your imagination creates the missing pieces. This is what happens when you read a book too. Some people with more imagination will recreate complete rooms, decors, or landscapes in their mind while reading a story. For this reason, I think the vision becomes a limiting factor to the imagination, but on the contrary, the audition is enhancing the imagination with subtle clues.