A Tale of Two Sounds: Audiovisual Localization in Depth with Physical and Virtual Sound Sources

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) is often used to create multisensory environments, yet virtual spatial audio may not preserve the acoustic cues that support distance perception in real environments. This raises the question of whether differences in sound presentation in virtual and real environments affect sensory integration. We compared audiovisual distance judgments in VR using physical sound sources (speakers) and virtually rendered spatial audio. Virtual sounds were more biased than physical sound sources, with a stronger tendency to report alignment when the visual target was farther than the auditory target. Additionally, precision was reduced for virtual sounds, with greater variability in responses and decreased sensitivity to differences between auditory and visual distances, particularly at farther distances. These results have important implications for the design of immersive environments, where reduced precision may impact tasks that require fine spatial judgments.