Auditory-Induced Presence in Mixed Reality Environments and Related Technology

Abstract

Presence, the “perceptual illusion of non-mediation” is often a central goal in mediated and mixed environments and sound is believed to be crucial for inducing high-presence experiences. This chapter provides a review of the state- of-the-art within presence research related to auditory environments. Various sound parameters such as externalization and spaciousness and consistency within and across modalities are discussed in relation to their presence-inducing effects. Moreover, these parameters are related to the use of audio in mixed realities and example applications are discussed. Finally, we give an account of the technologi- cal possibilities and challenges within the area of presence-inducing sound render- ing and presentation for mixed realities and outline future research aims.