this post was submitted on 13 May 2026
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Why does a controller have a speaker in it?
It doesn't. The haptic motors which provide vibration and tactile feedback can be used to produce sound.
Doesn't that make them speakers, technically?
I suppose the argument could be made. It's not their primary function though.
Transformer can be used as a speaker, so can tesla tower. Anything vibrating can in theory afaik.
I wonder if they function any way similar to the mic/speaker polydirectional thing. 😅
Remember those floppy, printer, other old hardware noise music videos? Something like this one. Steam Controller works kind of in a similar way. Tiny motors are able to squeak fast enough to produce multiple waveforms that mimick sound.
Plenty of controllers do. They can be used for multiplayer in place of a headset. Some games will also use them for non-world audio, like an audio log or a mission update. You can also use them in conjunction with haptics for communicating menu interaction. A different timbre of click for allowed vs disallowed, for example.
haptic feedback of the touchpads can be used to produce sounds.
For Wii emulation obviously
The playstation controllers have a speaker. A lot of games use them for interesting things. Like in some games where you can find voice recorders, the recording will play through the controller as if your holding it.
Dying Light did that on the PS4, pretty neat!
it's neat having the bowstrings ftht from the controller
Read in a game review that used a PS (?) controller speaker for radio messages that this worked great for immersion