Abstract
In this paper, we present a virtual audience simulation system for Virtual Reality (VR). The system implements an audience perception model controlling the nonverbal behaviors of virtual spectators, such as facial expressions or postures. Groups of virtual spectators are animated by a set of nonverbal behavior rules representing a particular audience attitude (e.g., indifferent or enthusiastic). Each rule specifies a nonverbal behavior category: posture, head movement, facial expression and gaze direction as well as three parameters: type, frequency and proportion. In a first user-study, we asked participants to pretend to be a speaker in VR and then create sets of nonverbal behaviour parameters to simulate different attitudes. Participants manipulated the nonverbal behaviours of single virtual spectator to match a specific levels of engagement and opinion toward them. In a second user-study, we used these parameters to design different types of virtual audiences with our nonverbal behavior rules and evaluated their perceptions. Our results demonstrate our system’s ability to create virtual audiences with three types of different perceived attitudes: indifferent, critical, enthusiastic. The analysis of the results also lead to a set of recommendations and guidelines regarding attitudes and expressions for future design of audiences for VR therapy and training applications.
Highlights
Virtual Reality (VR) systems have increasingly been used for social simulation applications, such as those for training or therapy
The virtual spectators populating these environments are called a Virtual Audience (VA) and the models underlying their simulated behaviors are of primary importance for users training and therapy outcomes
Pairwise Wilcoxon’s tests using the Bonferroni adjustment method have been used for each modality (Table 4). For both the valence and the arousal values, we found a significant effect on the perceived attitudes
Summary
Virtual Reality (VR) systems have increasingly been used for social simulation applications, such as those for training or therapy. Virtual Reality promises environments which can be dynamically controlled at a level that would be mostly unfeasible or unsafe during in vivo simulation, in a real environment such as a lecture room The need for such fine control is made especially evident in applications such as exposure therapy, which consists of repeatedly exposing a patient to varying degrees of a feared stimuli in order. Virtual Audience Behaviors to modify a behavioral or cognitive response (Rothbaum et al, 2000; Anderson et al, 2005) For this promise to hold for VR applications where the social aspect is key such as public speaking anxiety treatment, a fine control of the audience attitude is paramount for rooting the user in the virtual scene and providing training and therapeutic adaptive environments
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