A video communication system with a virtual pupil CG superimposed on the partner’s pupil

Abstract

Pupil response plays an important role in expression of talker’s affect. Focusing on the pupil response in human voice communication, we analyzed the pupil response in embodied interaction, and demonstrated that the speaker’s pupil was clearly dilated during the burst-pause of utterance. In addition, it was confirmed that the pupil response is effective for enhancing affective conveyance by using the developed system in which an interactive CG character generates the pupil response based on the burst-pause of utterance. In this study, we develop a video communication system with a virtual pupil CG superimposed on the partner’s pupil for enhancing affective conveyance. This system generates a virtual pupil response in synchronization of the talker’s utterance. The effectiveness of the system is demonstrated by means of sensory evaluations of 12 pairs of subjects in video communication.