Perceiving the World with Hearing in Virtual Reality

Although vision is usually considered to be the most important of the five senses, sound design of an inferior quality may still heavily influence a user's feeling of presence in virtual reality. In this study, a 3D sound system for virtual reality based on ambisonics was built to explore the influence of audio upon users' feeling of presence in a virtual reality environment. The research participants wore an HTC Vive device with a two-channel headset to perceive the virtual reality. They were asked to identify the location and the origin of a detected sound in terms of direction and distance and to perceive the size of a space through hearing. For comparison, visual hints were provided to determine whether they affect the participants' audio perception. The results of the experiment are analyzed to provide practical suggestions on interactive sound system design for virtual reality games or training systems in scenarios where hearing is crucial.