Reality aware VR headsets

Abstract

We present a model of a reality aware VR headset, a VR headset capable of identifying, interpreting and responding to elements of a user's reality. We report on an evaluation of 2 prototypes which investigated potential behaviours such a headset might have. Our first prototype compared 4 notifications to automatically notify a VR user to a bystander's presence. We compared notifying with and without information about the bystander's position. Our results highlight a subset of VR users who when notified of copresence without position were made uncomfortable. Our second prototype investigated how dynamic audio adjustment could react to audio events in the user's surroundings. We compared on-board headset audio and headphones with a dynamic audio version of each which decreased the application volume to direct attention to an audio source and increased application volume to block out an audio source. Our results found positive results when decreasing application volume but increasing volume to block out a nearby audio source was ineffective.