Audio’s Impact on Immersive Experience in Extended Reality and Digital Games: A Systematic Review

Hedges JM, Sazdov R, Johnston A. Audio’s Impact on Immersive Experience in Extended Reality and Digital Games: A Systematic Review. J Audio Eng Soc. 2024;72(10):630-649. doi:10.17743/jaes.2022.0169

@article{Hedges2024_22768,
  author = {Hedges, Jacob Michael and Sazdov, Robert and Johnston, Andrew},
  title = {{Audio’s Impact on Immersive Experience in Extended Reality and Digital Games: A Systematic Review}},
  journal = {Journal of the Audio Engineering Society},
  volume = {72},
  number = {10},
  pages = {630--649},
  year = {2024},
  month = oct,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  doi = {10.17743/jaes.2022.0169},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.17743/jaes.2022.0169}
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Audio’s Impact on Immersive Experience in Extended Reality and Digital Games: A Systematic Review
AU  - Hedges, Jacob Michael
AU  - Sazdov, Robert
AU  - Johnston, Andrew
T2  - Journal of the Audio Engineering Society
J2  - J. Audio Eng. Soc.
VL  - 72
IS  - 10
SP  - 630
EP  - 649
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/10/15
DO  - 10.17743/jaes.2022.0169
UR  - https://doi.org/10.17743/jaes.2022.0169
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - Extended reality and digital games strive to deliver a high level of “immersion,” a complex phenomenon influenced by both perceptual and psychological factors. Audio plays a crucial role in shaping immersive experiences, yet there is no clear consensus on its impact or on the best methods to evaluate it. This paper presents a systematic literature review spanning two decades, outlining the methods and findings related to how audio influences immersion in extended reality and digital games. It reveals a strong preference for experiments using virtual reality headsets and headphones and notes a gap in research on augmented and mixed reality environments. Moreover, it underscores the need for audio-specific metrics to better assess the ways that audio variables impact immersion. The findings demonstrate that audio elements like spatial fidelity, music, and the integration of sound in multimodal environments generally contribute to the immersive experience but also highlight a threshold beyond which further enhancements may not perceptibly improve the experience. It emphasizes the need for realtime, objective measures of immersion as well as the consideration of diverse methodological approaches to deepen the understanding of audio’s role in immersive technologies.
ER  -