The Effects of Spatialized Sounds on the Sense of Presence in Auditory Virtual Environments: A Psychological and Physiological Study

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maori Kobayashi ◽  
Kanako Ueno ◽  
Shiro Ise
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Personal Space ◽  
Physiological Measures ◽  
Psychological Measures ◽  
Reproduction System ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Spatial Sound ◽  
Acoustic Environments ◽  
Sound Condition

Although many studies have indicated that spatialized sounds increase the subjective sense of presence in virtual environments, few studies have examined the effects of sounds objectively. In this study, we examined whether three-dimensional reproduced sounds increase the sense of presence in auditory virtual environments by using physiological and psychological measures. We presented the sounds of people approaching the listener through a three-dimensional reproduction system using 96 loudspeakers. There were two spatial sound conditions, spatialized and non-spatialized, which had different spatial accuracy of the reproduction. The experimental results showed that presence ratings for spatialized sounds were greater than for non-spatialized sounds. Further, the results of the physiological measures showed that the sympathetic nervous system was activated to a greater extent by the spatialized sounds compared with the non-spatialized sounds, and the responses to the three-dimensional reproduced sounds were similar to those that occur during intrusions into personal space in the real world. Additionally, a correlation was found between the psychological and the physiological responses in the spatialized sound condition. These results suggest that the physiological measures correlate to the perceived presence in acoustic environments.

Equilibrium Theory Revisited: Mutual Gaze and Personal Space in Virtual Environments

2001 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 583-598 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy N. Bailenson ◽  
Jim Blascovich ◽  
Andrew C. Beall ◽  
Jack M. Loomis
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Eye Contact ◽  
Personal Space ◽  
Interpersonal Distance ◽  
Gaze Behavior ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environment ◽  
Mutual Gaze

During the last half of the twentieth century, psychologists and anthropologists have studied proxemics, or spacing behavior, among people in many contexts. As we enter the twenty-first century, immersive virtual environment technology promises new experimental venues in which researchers can study proxemics. Immersive virtual environments provide realistic and compelling experimental settings without sacrificing experimental control. The experiment reported here tested Argyle and Dean's (1965) equilibrium theory's specification of an inverse relationship between mutual gaze, a nonverbal cue signaling intimacy, and interpersonal distance. Participants were immersed in a three-dimensional virtual room in which a virtual human representation (that is, an embodied agent) stood. Under the guise of a memory task, participants walked towards and around the agent. Distance between the participant and agent was tracked automatically via our immersive virtual environment system. All participants maintained more space around agents than they did around similarly sized and shaped but nonhuman-like objects. Female participants maintained more interpersonal distance between themselves and agents who engaged them in eye contact (that is, mutual gaze behavior) than between themselves and agents who did not engage them in eye contact, whereas male participants did not. Implications are discussed for the study of proxemics via immersive virtual environment technology, as well as the design of virtual environments and virtual humans.

The sense of presence in virtual environments:

2003 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas W. Schubert
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Coding Theory ◽  
Model Building ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
Spatial Presence ◽  
Component Structure ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Being There ◽  
Measure Sense

Abstract. The sense of presence is the feeling of being there in a virtual environment. A three-component self report scale to measure sense of presence is described, the components being sense of spatial presence, involvement, and realness. This three-component structure was developed in a survey study with players of 3D games (N = 246) and replicated in a second survey study (N = 296); studies using the scale for measuring the effects of interaction on presence provide evidence for validity. The findings are explained by the Potential Action Coding Theory of presence, which assumes that presence develops from mental model building and suppression of the real environment.

scholarly journals Enhancing Qualities of Consciousness during Online Learning via Multisensory Interactions

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 57
Author(s):  
Valentina Cesari ◽  
Benedetta Galgani ◽  
Angelo Gemignani ◽  
Danilo Menicucci
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Physical Distance ◽  
Traditional Learning ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Lack Of Control ◽  
Multisensory Interactions ◽  
Feasible Alternative

Online-learning is a feasible alternative to in-person attendance during COVID-19 pandemic. In this period, information technologies have allowed sharing experiences, but have also highlighted some limitations compared to traditional learning. Learning is strongly supported by some qualities of consciousness such as flow (intended as the optimal state of absorption and engagement activity) and sense of presence (feeling of exerting control, interacting with and getting immersed into real/virtual environments), behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement, together with the need for social interaction. During online learning, feelings of disconnection, social isolation, distractions, boredom, and lack of control exert a detrimental effect on the ability to reach the state of flow, the feeling of presence, the feeling of social involvement. Since online environments could prevent the rising of these learning–supporting variables, this article aims at describing the role of flow, presence, engagement, and social interactions during online sessions and at characterizing multisensory stimulations as a driver to cope with these issues. We argue that the use of augmented, mixed, or virtual reality can support the above-mentioned domains, and thus counteract the detrimental effects of physical distance. Such support could be further increased by enhancing multisensory stimulation modalities within augmented and virtual environments.

Effect of Virtual Reality Graded Exposure on Heart Rate and Self-Reported Anxiety Levels of Performing Saxophonists

2003 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 302-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelyn K. Orman
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Exposure Period ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Graded Exposure ◽  
Subjective Measurements ◽  
Anxiety Levels ◽  
Exposure Sessions ◽  
Virtual Reality Exposure

This study is an examination of the effect of computer-generated virtual reality graded exposure on the physiological and psychological responses of performing musicians. Eight university saxophone majors, five men and three women, participated in twelve 15- to 20-minute weekly practice sessions during which they were immersed in one of four different virtual environments designed to elicit various anxiety levels. Baseline heart rates and subjective measurements were taken prior to immersion and continued throughout the exposure period. In addition, heart rate and subjective measurements were recorded for three live performances given by each subject before beginning the virtual reality exposure and after completion of the sixth and the twelfth exposure sessions. Findings indicated that the virtual environments did elicit a sense of presence and may have provided the means for desensitization. Heart-rate readings and psychological indications of anxiety did not always correspond.

Human interactions and personal space in collaborative virtual environments

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 229-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nasser Nassiri ◽  
Norman Powell ◽  
David Moore
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Personal Space ◽  
Collaborative Virtual Environments ◽  
Human Interactions

Enhancing qualities of consciousness during online learning via multisensory interactions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Cesari ◽  
Benedetta Galgani ◽  
Angelo Gemignani ◽  
Danilo Menicucci
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Physical Distance ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Lack Of Control ◽  
Multisensory Interactions ◽  
Feasible Alternative ◽  
Time Information

Online-learning is a feasible alternative to the physical classroom during this current global COVID-19 pandemic. In this time, Information Technologies have allowed sharing experiences but has also highlighted some limitations compared to the traditional way of learning. Learning is strongly sustained by some qualities of consciousness such as flow (intended as the optimal state of absorption and engagement in activity) and sense of presence (feeling of exerting control, interacting with and getting immersed into real/virtual environments), together with the need for social interaction. During online learning, feelings of disconnection, social isolation, distractions, lack of control exert a detrimental effect on the ability to reach the state of flow, the feeling of presence, the feeling of social involvement. Since online environments could prevent the rising of these learning-supporting variables, this article aims at describing the role of flow, presence and social interactions during online sessions and characterizing multi sensory stimulations as a driver to cope with these issues. We argue that the use of augmented, mixed or virtual reality can support abovementioned domains of consciousness and thus counteract the detrimental effects of physical distance. Such support could be further increased by enhancing multisensory stimulation modalities within augmented and virtual environments.

The Images of Dante’s Inferno in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The House of the Dead

2021 ◽  
pp. 31-52
Author(s):  
Marina G. Kurgan ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Network ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Personal Space ◽  
Divine Comedy ◽  
The Body ◽  
Dimensional Image ◽  
The Third ◽  
Character System ◽  
The Divine Comedy ◽  
The Dead

The House of the Dead was repeatedly compared with the first part of Dante’s The Divine Comedy even in F.M. Dostoevsky’s lifetime. However, his contemporaries usually focused on general analogies, while later scholars paid more attention to the narrative features or individual reminiscences. This research studies the main aspects of the artistic structure of the Dante code, constructing the space of Hell in Dostoevsky’s novel. 1. The organization of space. Alexander Petrovich Goryanchikov, the narrator in The House of the Dead, recreates a three-dimensional image that resembles a gradually narrowing funnel: from a bird’s-eye view, where the prison is seen in its entirety, the focus slowly descends, passing to smaller objects, and finally reaching the “three boards”, which limit Goryanchikov’s personal space. The same principle is employed to construct the space of Hell in Dante’s poem. In The House of the Dead, there is another significant indication of the spatial affinity of Dante’s hell and Dostoevsky’s katorga – active imagery associated with cobwebs and spiders. In the centre of the system of images associated with the designated semantic network is the parade- major, the head of the fortress and the owner of the inmate web. 2. The character system as an element constituting the space of Hell. The character system of The House of the Dead follows the compositional principle of Divine Comedy, where sinners are located in different circles in accordance with their main passion. There are three circles in the prison: the first is formal, according to the court decision; the second is informal, internal, formed by crafts and occupations; the third represents Goryanchikov’s perspective as an exponent of human and humane judgment, which distinguishes another person’s moral state. 3. Torment. The House of the Dead demonstrate a hierarchy in describing the tortures, while freedom becomes a fundamental category to embody the most important motif of physical and moral torment connecting Dostoevsky’s novel with Dante’s experience. The bodily torment ceases to be only the torment of the body to become a pain of the soul, comparable to physical torment, so the soul suffers and burns. Hell as a moral topos was the key for Dostoevsky. In The House of the Dead, he chooses the same way as Dante in The Divine Comedy: vivid corporeality conveys an esoteric metaphor of moral suffering and deep inner movements of the soul.

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