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Virtual reality head-mounted displays affect sidetone perception.
Greta Öhlund Wistbacka1, Weihan Shen1, Jonas Brunskog1
1Acoustic Technology, Department of Electrical and Photonics Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby DK-2800, Denmark gmawi@elektro.dtu.dk, s212644@dtu.dk, jbr@elektro.dtu.dk.
JASA Express Letters
|November 1, 2022
Summary
Head-mounted displays (HMDs) alter auditory sidetone perception. Spectral analysis revealed HMDs reduce sidetone energy, and most listeners could perceive this change.
Area of Science:
- Audiology
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Acoustics
Background:
- Sidetone, the sound of one's own voice heard via a microphone and speaker, is crucial for voice production.
- Head-mounted displays (HMDs) are increasingly common in virtual reality and augmented reality applications.
- The acoustic impact of HMDs on sidetone perception is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if wearing head-mounted displays (HMDs) perceptibly alters the auditory sidetone.
- To quantify the acoustic changes in sidetone introduced by HMDs.
Main Methods:
- Impulse responses (IRs) were measured with (IRtest) and without (IRref) a HMD using a dummy head.
- Spectral analysis was performed on the recorded IRs.
- Ten naive listeners discriminated between speech signals convolved with IRtest and IRref.
Main Results:
- Spectral analysis indicated that HMDs reduced sidetone energy in the 2000-4500 Hz range.
- A majority of the tested listeners could distinguish between the sidetone with and without the HMD.
Conclusions:
- Head-mounted displays (HMDs) introduce a discernible alteration to auditory sidetone.
- The perceived changes in sidetone due to HMDs are significant enough for listeners to detect.
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