Speaker
Description
Traditional auditory attention research often relies on controlled but artificial laboratory settings. Virtual reality offers a more realistic alternative, but added visual information may influence not only performance but also the subjective listening experience. This study examined how visualization of target and distracting sound sources in a virtual classroom affects perceived listening effort and presence.Participants performed an auditory selective attention task in four environments of increasing visual complexity: an empty room, a classroom with animated distractors, a classroom with animated target speakers, and a setting including visible target and distractor speakers. After each condition, participants rated listening effort and presence. These ratings were related to results from the attention task. Preliminary analyses suggest only subtle effects. Increased audiovisual noise showed trends toward higher presence, while visible target speakers may have slightly reduced listening effort. These patterns are consistent with earlier findings that informative visual cues can support auditory attention.The results highlight the importance of combining behavioral and subjective measures when studying listening in immersive audiovisual environments.