Understandable - it's a jam game and you can only do so much. I just figured you guys are pros and would appreciate the more detailed technical observations about the audio., especially.
I don't think you can de-emphasise the UI reliance. As it is it's amazingly minimalist (well done!) but whenever you have this kind of game that requires intense concentration on micro elements you do, as a player, end up zoning into whatever is giving the visual feedback, which is usually the UI or a space directly in front of the player character/object, and missing out on everything else. I don't think there's a solution, except perhaps with very complicated and nuanced audio that would require headphones for accurate gameplay.