Abstract
The study aimed to evaluate the difficulty in maintaining eye contact during a teleconference for different camera-gaze angular offsets. Videoconferencing systems may compromise the eye contact between participants due to imperfect angular alignment between the center of the screen and the camera. During a teleconference, difficulty maintaining eye contact may be perceived as uncomfortable or unsatisfying by participants in the call. An experiment deploying 33 test subjects was performed and evaluated. Groups of three test subjects performed a videoconference call. The effect of camera-gaze angular offset was quantified by assessing Effectiveness and Engagement ratings. It was shown that even 10 degrees of misalignment cause a statistically significant drop in Effectiveness for business-type teleconference calls. Camera-gaze angular offset is an important parameter to be considered during videoconferencing equipment design or setup. Higher misalignments may cause significant drops in perceived call quality (Quality of Experience). Our research results can be practical in conferencing equipment design and setup, modern telecommunication equipment design, workplace ergonomics, or distance learning equipment setup.
Highlights
Eye contact is an essential part of human-to-human communication that carries a significant amount of non-verbal communication [1]
While Engagement showed only insignificant sensitivity to the tested angular misalignment, it was shown that even 11.3◦ of horizontal misalignment causes a drop in Effectivenes of approximately 0.25 Mean Opinion Score (MOS) for business-type teleconference calls
The identified difference in the 5-grade MOS scale is fully comparable with differences between speech coder candidates for the NATO coder selection procedure, which resulted in MELPe adoption as STANAG 4591 in 2001, or performance differences between 3G and LTE speech coders
Summary
Eye contact is an essential part of human-to-human communication that carries a significant amount of non-verbal communication [1]. New technologies allow people to interact with each other in any situation using audio or video communications. The recent lockdowns due to the COVID-19 virus spread forced many to work and study from home and communicate online using various services such as Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. Many professionals use videoconferencing routinely, even during their regular work, including military and public safety commanders and employees. Achieving the highest possible communication quality and experience there is essential, and any problem potentially can cause fatal consequences. Videoconferencing systems may compromise eye contact between participants due to imperfect angular alignment
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