Visual-Auditory Redirection using Auditory Cues in Reality

We examine the effect of auditory cues occurring in reality on redirection. Specifically, we set two hypotheses: the auditory cues emanating from fixed positions in reality (Fixed sound, FS) increase the noticeability of redirection, while the auditory cues whose positions are manipulated consistently with the visual manipulation (Redirected sound, RDS) decrease the noticeability of redirection. To verify these hypotheses, we conducted a user study ( N=18 ) to investigate the detection thresholds (DTs) for rotational manipulation and the sound localization accuracy of the auditory cues under FS and RDS, as well as the baseline condition without auditory cues (No sound, NS). The results show, against the hypotheses, FS gave a wider range of DTs than NS, while RDS gave a similar range of DTs to NS. Combining these results with those of sound localization accuracy reveals that, rather than the auditory cues affecting the participants’ spatial perception in VR, the visual manipulation made their sound localization less accurate, which would be a reason for the increased range of DTs under FS.