Quantifying auditory presence using electroencephalography

Abstract

Presence is used to assess the subjective experience of being in one place when physically situated in another. Recently, the research on presence has gained increasing attention due to the wide use of immersive audio technologies. Currently, the most widely-used measurement of presence is based on post-experiment self-report questionnaires. It is reliable but imperfect due to the psychological changes caused by the act of answering the questionnaire when immersed in the virtual environment. Therefore, the present work aims to find an objective way to measure presence, and electroencephalography (EEG) was investigated as a possible tool for this objective measurement. In this study, two listening tests were conducted, where eight loudspeakers were used to reproduce urban soundscapes to stimulate auditory presence. Presence was measured by both questionnaires and EEG. Results showed a significant correlation between T/B (Theta/Beta Ratio) extracted from EEG and subjective presence levels assessed by questionnaires, suggesting the possible use of EEG to measure presence objectively. This study could bring some insight for the research of presence, and related technologies, such as VR, video games and immersive audio production.