Avståndsuppfattning till en ljudkälla i VR

Sammanfattning: Virtual reality, VR, has become more popular in the last decade thanks to the rapid development of the technology, and thanks to becoming more accessible. One of the demands that users have is that the VR experience should be immersive, which means that the computer-generated world should be perceived as if it was real. This is achieved by taking all senses into account. In addition to the visual impression, the sound is essential and contributes information to the user. When locating audio sources, a three-dimensional sound image is necessary. A part of the localization includes estimating the distance to the audio source. Our perception of distance is based upon two impressions, the volume and the relationship between direct and diffuse sound. The direct sound is the sound that reaches the listener directly, and the diffuse sound is the sound that arrives at the listener after being reflected against the surroundings [4]. This study aims to explore how the relationship between direct and diffuse sound affects the perception of distance to audio sources in VR. The study consisted of two phases: A design phase for building the test environment and a test phase where physical tests were conducted. The test environment was built in Unity and consisted of four scenes, two of which were for educational purposes and two for test purposes. It was also analyzed whether any previous experience of VR or playing an instrument affected the result. No evident trends could be seen in the results, and therefore no conclusions could be drawn from the study. Noticeable from the data was that the answers became more extreme when the reverberation was increased. And that the answers were more evenly distributed when the reverberation was reduced. It was also noted that the reverberation affected the participants' perception of space more than the perception of distance. The most prominent reasons for the vague result are believed to be that the study group was too small and that the test was too difficult. Another factor that impacted the result was the software used. Although no conclusions could be drawn from this study, it will continue to be interesting to investigate further what can affect the perception of distance in VR.