Influence of Sound Direction and Distance on Immersive Experience in VR Gaming

Audio is an indispensable and emotion-guiding factor in horror-themed virtual reality games as it enhances the sense of immersion in the gameplay. We establish an enclosed environment in the shape of a corridor and modules such as windows, door frames, and broken parts in the upper, lower, left, and right sides of the space. All the externally visible environments are placed into black shadows to create a virtual environment within the room except the enclosed corridor. The game plot includes flashing lights and grisly characters that appear intermittently to induce the horror experience. Herein, under the same visual and plot settings, game audio processing (for the test group) is enhanced by the sound direction, distance of character actions, and distance to the player. The system is compared with the game audio processing (for the control group) that does not consider sound direction and distance to explore whether these factors can effectively guide and enhance players’ immersion in the horror game environment.