Effects of Adding Contact Sound to Avatars on Their Presence

The use of social VR content to communicate with others in a virtual space has been increasing. It is suggested that the frequency of physical contact is higher in communication on VR than in the real world, which improves the user’s liking for the other party. In this study, we aimed to improve the quality of communication by adding auditory stimuli to physical contact between avatars in a virtual space, and investigated the effects of contact sounds on the impression and presence that the user has of the other avatar. The results showed that the impression and presence of the avatar did not change by the addition of the contact sounds, suggesting that they may be influenced by the first impression of the avatar’s appearance. It was also found that familiar contact sounds that were closer to the reality tended to be preferred.