A First Pilot Study to Compare Virtual Group Meetings using Video Conferences and (Immersive) Virtual Reality

Abstract

Face-to-face communication has evolved as most natural means for communication. However, virtual group meetings have received considerable attention as an alternative for allowing multiple persons to communicate over distance, e. g., via video conferences or immersive virtual reality (VR) systems, but they incur numerous limitations and challenges. In particular, they often hinder spatial perception of full-body language, deictic relations, or eye-to-eye contact. The differences between video conferences and immersive VR meetings still remain poorly understood. We report about a pilot study in which we compared virtual group meetings using video conferences and VR meetings with and without head-mounted displays (HMDs). The results suggest that participants feel higher sense of presence when using an immersive VR meeting, but only if an HMD is used. Usability of video conferences as well as immersive VR is acceptable, whereas non-immersive VR without HMD was not acceptable.