An approach to reducing distance compression in audiovisual virtual environments

Perception of distances in virtual reality (VR) is compressed: objects are consistl:ntly perceived u closer than intended. Allhougb this phenomenon has been well documented, it is still not fully understood or defined with respect to dle factors influencing such compression. This ill a problem in scenarios where veri.di.cal perception of distance and scale ill essential. We report the results of an experiment investigating an approach to reducing distance compression in audiovisual VR based on a predictive model of distance perception. Our test enviroomeot involved photorealistic 3D images captured through stereo photography, with corresponding spatial audio rendered binaurally over headphones. In a perceptual matclring task, participants positioned an auditory stimulus with respect to the corresponding visual stimulus. We found a high correlation between the distaDce perception predicted by our model and bow participants perceived the distance. Tbrough automated manipulation of the audio and visual displays based on the model, our approach can be used to reposition auditory and visual components of a scene to reduce distance compression. The approach is adaptable to different environments and agnostic of scene content, and can be calibrated to individual observers.