Telepresence, soundscapes and technological expectation: putting the observer into the equation

In an experiment exploring the impact of sound on sensations of telepresence, 126 participants watched a video clip using either headphones or speakers. The results illustrate that sound is an important factor in stimulating telepresence responses in audiences. Interactions between soundscape and screen size were also revealed. A traverse interaction between aural/visual congruency and soundscapes was evident. A second data set of 102 participants was collected to illuminate the effect of technological expectation that emerged in the first study. Expectations had been mentioned in other studies, and the data support the notion that people have an expectation of the technological quality of a presentation. The results suggest that examining expectations could assist in future conceptualizations of telepresence

Perceived spaciousness in music presented through headphones, loudspeakers and wave field synthesis

Background. The perception of spaciousness has found increased interest in field of acoustics in the recent years because the importance of its influence on the perception of sounds has been revealed. People would rather listen with headphones than with loudspeakers, e.g. in listening studies (Kallinen and Ravaja, 2007). One possibility to avoid this issue could be to conduct studies with the wave field synthesis acting as a virtual headphone which Laumann, Theile and Fastl (2008) have designed.This work is motivated by the results of a former study in which participants were asked to evaluate spaciousness while listening with loudspeakers. The participants heard music from five different musical genres with 30 excerpts for each genre. The study demonstrated that the investigated genres allow classifications of certain spatial features such as “big”, “wide” and “open” (Stirnat, 2012). In contrast to the former study, it will utilize stereo loudspeakers, headphones and wave field synthesis to conduct another hearing test in which participants will experience all three technical conditions. Also participants will listen to only 30 excerpts of mixed genres and instruments.Questions and Hypotheses. This study will concentrate on answering the following questions: Firstly, how do we perceive spaciousness in music itself with the different technical devices? Secondly, what are the differences in the perceived spaciousness when participants listen with loudspeakers, headphones and wave field synthesis? Thirdly, is it possible to replace headphones with wave field synthesis?The results will lead to conclusions of the pros and cons of the various technical configurations. One hypothesis is that there will occur technology specific attributes for the perceived spaciousness in music. Another hypothesis is that there will be music-specific attributes for the perceived spaciousness.Method. The methodology used for this study will consist of a hearing test including twelve pictures showing spatial attributes that will be rated on a numeric scale as well as dummy head recordings for an objective comparison.Keywords: Acoustics, Music Perception, Psychoacoustics, SpaciousnessReferencesKallin, K. & Ravaja, N. (2007). Comparing speakers versus headphones in listening to news from a computer – individual differences and psychophysiological responses. In: Elsevier, ScienceDirect, Computers in Human Behaviour, 23, 303–317.Laumann, K., Theile, G. & Fastl, H. (2008). A virtual headphone based on wave field synthesis. Proceedings Acoustics 08. Paris, France, 3593–3597.Stirnat, C. (2012). Percepted spaciousness of different musical genres. Unpublished Bachelor's Thesis, Hamburg, 1–28

Was I There? Impact of Platform and Headphones on 360 Video Immersion

Virtual reality industries claim that 360 videos are a powerful tool for creating empathy because they are an immersive medium, and wearing headphones is encouraged for the full immersive experience. To investigate these claims, we carried out a 2x2 between subjects lab study (n=40) to explore whether 360 viewing platform (magic window / google cardboard) and headphone use (with / without) have an effect on Film-Immersion for the 360 video Fire Rescue. Our results reveal a significant interaction effect: headphones increased immersion for google cardboard, but decreased immersion for magic window. However, not all dimensions of the immersive experience were affected. This suggests that head-mounted displays increase presence, but do not necessarily lead to more empathy and greater interest in the 360 video. Thematic analysis of interview data suggests contributing factors such as fear of missing out (FOMO). These findings have implications for film makers and researchers of 360 videos

Performance and reliability of a smartphone digits-in-noise test in the sound field

PURPOSE : This study compared the speech reception thresholds (SRTs) and test–retest reliability of the smartphone digits-in-noise (DIN) test coupled to various sound-field transducers. METHOD : Fifty normal-hearing participants (bilateral pure- tone thresholds 0.5–8kHz ≤ 15dB HL) between the ages of 18 and 25 years (M = 20, SD = ±1.9) were recruited. The study used a repeated measure counterbalanced Latin square design to compare the SRTs of the smartphone DIN test recorded with earphones, 2 smartphone speakers, and 2 external loudspeakers in a sound booth. Test–retest reliability across sound field conditions was also determined. RESULTS : Mean SRTs across earphone and different sound field transducers ranged from −11.3 (SD = 0.8) to −11.7 (SD = 1.2). SRTs across the 4 different loudspeaker transducers and earphones were not significantly different (p > .05) between test and retest sessions. CONCLUSION : The smartphone DIN test is reliable and can be conducted using various sound field transducers in a sound booth. To allow home-based testing without earphones, with special application to aided performance for speech-in-noise testing, the smartphone DIN test should be evaluated in home environments.This article is part of the Special Issue: Select Papers From the Hearing Across the Lifespan (HEAL) 2018 Conference.The National Research Foundationhttps://pubs.asha.org/journal/ajahj2020Speech-Language Pathology and Audiolog

Delivering Health Information via Podcast or Web: Media Effects on Psychosocial and Physiological Responses

This study explored differences in psychosocial and physiological variables in response to being presented with information on weight loss through either reading text on a website or listening to the same information via podcast. Participants were randomized to receive a weight loss website (n = 20) or podcast (n = 20). Participants had skin conductance levels measured and completed questionnaire items assessing demographic characteristics, user control, novelty, and knowledge. Participants in the podcast group exhibited greater levels of physiological arousal and reported the intervention to be more novel than those in the Web group; however, the Web group reported greater user control. There was no difference in knowledge between the groups. This study presents the first step in examining the role that novelty and user control may play in two different weight-loss electronic media, as well as differences in knowledge acquisition. Future research should explore adding additional media features, such as video content, to the podcasts and websites in order to optimize fully the different mediums and to examine whether user control and novelty are potential mediators of weight loss outcomes

AI voices reduce cognitive activity? A psychophysiological study of the media effect of AI and human newscasts in Chinese journalism

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been widely utilized in automated journalism writing and broadcasting in recent years. However, few systematic studies have been conducted on the differences in brain activation between human and artificial voices in newscasts. This paper aims to investigate the psychophysiological effects of the media in Chinese contexts when different agents (AI or human) broadcast different types (emotional/neutral) of news. Comparing the electrophysiological data of the participants’ EEG while listening to different newscast agents revealed that brain activity responses were greater when listening to a human newscast than to an AI voice newscast. And β bands in left posterior temporal lobe were significantly different, suggesting that participants’ brain were better at processing, comprehending auditory information, and storing working memory when listening to a human reporter than when listening to a voice generated by AI. Moreover, the ERP results and the interaction effect of content valence and agent voice demonstrated that the human voice generated greater cognitive effect, which may reflect participants’ trust in the credibility and fluency of the human voice news. This study demonstrates the importance of further research into cognitive effects of AI journalism