Is It Cold in Here or Is It Just Me? Analysis of Augmented Reality Temperature Visualization for Computer-Mediated Thermoception

Modern augmented reality (AR) head-mounted displays comprise a multitude of sensors that allow them to sense the environment around them. We have extended these capabilities by mounting two heat-wavelength infrared cameras to a Microsoft HoloLens, facilitating the acquisition of thermal data and enabling stereoscopic thermal overlays in the user's augmented view. The ability to visualize live thermal information opens several avenues of investigation on how that thermal awareness may affect a user's thermoception. We present a human-subject study, in which we simulated different temperature shifts using either heat vision overlays or 3D AR virtual effects associated with thermal cause-effect relationships (e.g., flames burn and ice cools). We further investigated differences in estimated temperatures when the stimuli were applied to either the user's body or their environment. Our analysis showed significant effects and first trends for the AR virtual effects and heat vision, respectively, on participants' temperature estimates for their body and the environment though with different strengths and characteristics, which we discuss in this paper.