Impact of Turn-Taking Dialogues and Reverberation Features on Co-Immersion in Audio Augmented Virtuality

This study revises a prior Audio Augmented Virtuality (AAV) experiment on the co-immersion of virtual sound sources rendered with simplified late reverberation (LR) approaches. We investigate the effect of stimulus type by transitioning from overlapping speech to turn-taking dialogues, providing a more ecological context for remote communication. Participants listened to two, three, or four virtual speakers in turn-taking dialogues, dynamically rendered with Ambisonics Room Impulse Responses (RIRs) and individualized Head-Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs). In each trial, they were asked to detect and identify an impostor-a speaker rendered with one of two simplified static LR conditions. Compared to overlapping speech, turn-taking dialogues yielded more precise impostor identification when detected. Concurrently, listeners showed a stronger bias toward reporting the impostor's absence, suggesting that conversational engagement enhances the simulation's acceptability. An exploratory acoustic features analysis further revealed a shift toward clarity-related parameters in listener strategy. This work validates the co-immersion paradigm for assessing the acceptability of simplified audio rendering, offering guidelines for designing efficient yet realistic auditory experiences.