Measuring the influence of audio on immersive experience in extended reality and digital games: a systematic review

A key goal of extended reality (XR) technologies and digital games is to create immersive experiences for the user. Immersive experience is a multifaceted phenomenon that encompasses perceptual and psychological factors, and audio has been recognized as a key modality that can influence such experiences. Despite extensive research on the subject, there is no consensus regarding the ways in which audio impacts immersive experience. This is also the case in terms of the most appropriate methodology for evaluating this phenomenon in the context of end-user experience in XR and digital games. This paper aims to establish a comprehensive overview of the experimental methodologies associated with this topic through a systematic literature review of the last 20 years of research. The inclusion criteria focuses on research papers that attempt to measure audio-related independent variables (e.g., spatial resolution) on immersion-related dependent variables (e.g., sense of presence), in the context of XR environments and digital games. The results reveal a preference for VR HMD and headphone-based experiments, identifying a lack of AR/MR exploration, as well as the necessity for standardized, audio-specific questionnaires in data collection for a more comprehensive understanding of the field.