| Issue |
Acta Acust.
Volume 8, 2024
Topical Issue - Virtual acoustics
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 72 | |
| Number of page(s) | 21 | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/aacus/2024064 | |
| Published online | 16 December 2024 | |
Scientific Article
The impact of binaural auralizations on sound source localization and social presence in audiovisual virtual reality: converging evidence from placement and eye-tracking paradigms★
1
Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, Universitätsstr. 31, 93053 Regensburg, Germany
2
Institut für Hörtechnik und Audiologie, Jade Hochschule, Ofener Str. 16, 26121 Oldenburg, Germany
3
Acoustics Group, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Carl-von-Ossietzky-Str. 9-11, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany
4
Cluster of Excellence “Hearing4All”
* Corresponding author: sarah.rosskopf@ur.de
Received:
21
February
2024
Accepted:
19
September
2024
Virtual Reality (VR) enables the presentation of realistic audio-visual environments by combining head-tracked binaural auralizations with visual scenes. Whether these auralizations improve social presence in VR and enable sound source localization comparable to that of real sound sources is yet unclear. Therefore, we implemented two sound source localization paradigms (speech stimuli) in a virtual seminar room. First, we measured localization continuously using a placement task. Second, we measured gaze as a naturalistic behavior. Forty-nine participants compared three auralizations based on measured binaural room impulse responses (BRIRs), simulated BRIRs, both with generic and individual head-related impulse responses (HRIRs), with loudspeakers and an anchor (gaming audio engine). In both paradigms, no differences were found between binaural rendering and loudspeaker trials concerning ratings of social presence and subjective realism. However, sound source localization accuracy of binaurally rendered sound sources was inferior to loudspeakers. Binaural auralizations based on generic simulations were equivalent to renderings based on individualized simulations in terms of localization accuracy but inferior in terms of social presence. Since social presence and subjective realism are strongly correlated, the implementation of plausible binaural auralizations is suggested for VR settings where high levels of (social) presence are relevant (e.g. multiuser interaction, VR exposure therapy).
Key words: Binaural auralizations / Virtual reality / Sound source localization / Subjective audio realism / Eye-tracking / Social presence / Head related impulse responses / Gaze / Attention
A part of the here reported data has already been published in the proceedings of the Forum Acusticum 2023 at Torino [1].
© The Author(s), Published by EDP Sciences, 2024
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.