Auditory Feedback to Make Walking in Virtual Reality More Accessible

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that various auditory feedback modalities, especially spatial audio, significantly improve walking patterns in VR, potentially enhancing accessibility for users with and without mobility impairments.

Contribution

It is the first to systematically evaluate multiple auditory feedback types on gait in VR, highlighting spatial audio's superior effectiveness.

Findings

All auditory feedback improved gait in VR (p < .001).

Spatial audio outperformed other auditory conditions (p < .001).

Both impaired and unimpaired groups benefited from auditory cues.

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of several auditory feedback modalities on gait (i.e., walking patterns) in virtual reality (VR). Prior research has substantiated gait disturbances in VR users as one of the primary obstacles to VR usability. However, minimal research has been done to mitigate this issue. We recruited 39 participants (with mobility impairments: 18, without mobility impairments: 21) who completed timed walking tasks in a real-world environment and the same tasks in a VR environment with various types of auditory feedback. Within-subject results showed that each auditory condition significantly improved gait performance while in VR (p < .001) compared to the no auditory condition in VR for both groups of participants with and without mobility impairments. Moreover, spatial audio improved gait performance significantly (p < .001) compared to other auditory conditions for both groups of participants. This research could help to make walking in VR more accessible for people with and without mobility impairments.