Moved By Sound: How head-tracked spatial audio affects autonomic emotional state and immersion-driven auditory orienting response in VR Environments

Warp R, Zhu MKI, Wiesler J, Stafford S, Mavridou I. Moved By Sound: How head-tracked spatial audio affects autonomic emotional state and immersion-driven auditory orienting response in VR Environments. In: AES Convention 152. Audio Engineering Society; 2022. Paper 10590. Available from: https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=21703

@inproceedings{Warp2022_21703,
  author = {Warp, Richard and Zhu, Michael: Kiprijanovska, Ivana and Wiesler, Jonathan and Stafford, Scot and Mavridou, Ifigeneia},
  title = {{Moved By Sound: How head-tracked spatial audio affects autonomic emotional state and immersion-driven auditory orienting response in VR Environments}},
  booktitle = {AES Convention 152},
  note = {Paper 10590},
  year = {2022},
  month = may,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  url = {https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=21703}
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - Moved By Sound: How head-tracked spatial audio affects autonomic emotional state and immersion-driven auditory orienting response in VR Environments
AU  - Warp, Richard
AU  - Zhu, Michael: Kiprijanovska, Ivana
AU  - Wiesler, Jonathan
AU  - Stafford, Scot
AU  - Mavridou, Ifigeneia
T2  - AES Convention 152
M1  - Paper 10590
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022/05/06
UR  - https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=21703
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - This paper presents a narrative content-driven virtual reality (VR) experiment using novel biosensing technology to evaluate emotional response to a complex, layered soundscape that includes discrete and ambient sound events, music, and speech. Stimuli were presented in a spatialized vs mono audio format, to determine whether head-tracked spatial audio exerts an effect on physiologically measured emotional response. The extent to which a listener’s sense of immersion in a VR environment can be increased based on the spatial characteristics of the audio is also examined, both through the analysis of self-reported immersion scores and physical movement data. Finally, the study explores the relationship between the creators’ own intentions for emotion elicitation within the stimulus material, and the recorded emotional responses that matched those intentions in both the spatialized and non-spatialized case. The results of the study provide evidence that spatial audio can significantly affect emotional response in Immersive Virtual Environments (IVEs). In addition, self-reported immersion metrics favour a spatial audio experience as compared to a non-spatial version, while physical movement data shows increased user intention and focused localization in the spatial vs non-spatial audio case. Finally, strong correlations were found between the creators of the sound.
ER  -