Comparing Dolby Atmos Loudspeaker and Headphone Reproduction in Survival-Horror Game: Format Preferences and the Role of Familiarity Bias

Oramus T, Neubauer P. Comparing Dolby Atmos Loudspeaker and Headphone Reproduction in Survival-Horror Game: Format Preferences and the Role of Familiarity Bias. In: AES Show 2026 Nashville. Audio Engineering Society; 2026.pp. 38:1-8. Available from: https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=23470

@inproceedings{Oramus2026_23470,
  author = {Oramus, Tomas and Neubauer, Petr},
  title = {{Comparing Dolby Atmos Loudspeaker and Headphone Reproduction in Survival-Horror Game: Format Preferences and the Role of Familiarity Bias}},
  booktitle = {AES Show 2026 Nashville},
  pages = {38:1-8},
  url = {https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=23470},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  address = {Gaylord Opryland Resort}
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - Comparing Dolby Atmos Loudspeaker and Headphone Reproduction in Survival-Horror Game: Format Preferences and the Role of Familiarity Bias
AU  - Oramus, Tomas
AU  - Neubauer, Petr
T2  - AES Show 2026 Nashville
SP  - 1
EP  - 8
M1  - Paper 38
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/30
UR  - https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=23470
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
CY  - Gaylord Opryland Resort
LA  - en
AB  - This research investigates the comparison between Dolby Atmos for loudspeakers (7.1.4) and Dolby Atmos for Headphones (binaural) in a survival-horror video game, alongside the influence of long-term user habits (familiarity bias) on the format choice. In a within-subjects experiment (N = 50), participants played two consecutive gameplay segments of Resident Evil Village using both headphones and loudspeakers. Subsequently, they evaluated the formats based on perceived acoustic quality, realism, immersion, and overall preference. The results only confirmed a statistically significant preference for headphone reproduction regarding the immersion attribute. Furthermore, the habitual home audio setup showed no statistically significant influence on the evaluation of these specific attributes. Although the analysis suggested a possible association between habitual home setup and selecting the format for continued gameplay, the overall effect of the home setup on the final format choice did not reach statistical significance. Nevertheless, more than a third of the participants (36%) selected a format different from their habitual home setup for continued gameplay.
ER  -