Audiovisual Coherence Thresholds for Direct-to-Reverberant Energy Ratio

Lindahl P, Arend JM, Meyer-Kahlen N. Audiovisual Coherence Thresholds for Direct-to-Reverberant Energy Ratio. In: AVARIG 2026: Audio for Virtual and Augmented Reality and Immersive Games. Audio Engineering Society; 2026. Paper 10337. Available from: https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=23299

@inproceedings{Lindahl2026_23299,
  author = {Lindahl, Peter and Arend, Johannes M. and Meyer-Kahlen, Nils},
  title = {{Audiovisual Coherence Thresholds for Direct-to-Reverberant Energy Ratio}},
  booktitle = {AVARIG 2026: Audio for Virtual and Augmented Reality and Immersive Games},
  note = {Paper 10337},
  year = {2026},
  month = jun,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  url = {https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=23299}
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - Audiovisual Coherence Thresholds for Direct-to-Reverberant Energy Ratio
AU  - Lindahl, Peter
AU  - Arend, Johannes M.
AU  - Meyer-Kahlen, Nils
T2  - AVARIG 2026: Audio for Virtual and Augmented Reality and Immersive Games
M1  - Paper 10337
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/30
UR  - https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=23299
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - Holographic calling systems aim to create the perceptual illusion that a remote interlocutor is physically present by combining augmented reality (AR) visualizations with spatial audio rendering. A key challenge in such systems is achieving audiovisual coherence when room-acoustic properties must be inferred, since this can lead to greater inaccuracies than when they are estimated from measurements. In this study, we investigate perceptual tolerance to mismatches in the direct-to-reverberant energy ratio (DRR), a critical cue for auditory distance perception. We conducted a listening experiment in which participants judged whether the audio and the visual presentation of a stimulus were coherent using a yes/no task. Stimuli included both a volumetric capture of a speaking human avatar, rendered at the correct direct sound level, and a loudspeaker reproducing wideband noise. For the loudspeaker, level roving was introduced to assess the influence of intensity cues on listener decisions. Results show that audiovisual coherence is maintained for half of the presentations within a DRR mismatch range of approximately 3 dB for too dry and 4:3 dB for too reverberant renderings. Within the limited number of participants included in the study, no evidence for significant differences was found between speaking avatars and loudspeakers reproducing noise, nor between different ranges of level roving in the loudspeaker condition. Nevertheless, the findings help to understand the consequences of DRR estimation mismatches for holographic AR calling experiences.
ER  -