Abstract:
Anecdotal reports from casual listening in auditory virtual environments suggest that the ``compellingness'' of virtual sounds depends not only on the fidelity of the synthesized environment but also on the characteristics of the real environment in which the sounds are presented (i.e., even though the sounds are presented through headphones, nonauditory characteristics of, or previous auditory experience in, the listening environment may influence the perception of the virtual environment). In particular, when the synthesized environment ``matches'' the listening environment the auditory experience can be strikingly realistic. To quantify this phenomenon, binaural recordings of ``everyday'' sounds were made through the KEMAR manikin in each of three real rooms (16 to 194 m[sup 3]). A 3x3 between-subjects design was used; each untrained subject listened to one of the three recordings over headphones while seated with eyes open in one of the three rooms (the recording might or might not match the room). The effects of recording room size and listening room size on objective measures of 3-D localization accuracy (azimuth, elevation, and distance) and on subjective measures of the listening experience (sense of presence, sound quality, and vividness) are evaluated. [Work supported by AFOSR F49620-95-1-90106, NRC, and Wright State University.]